A review by adelphiereads
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the kind of book that I could talk about for hours and it still wouldn’t be enough. I feel like Donna Tart could write five more books retelling the story from each of the Greek kids' perspectives and I would still read it, no— devour it, get lost in it, and constantly think about it even after reading them. It’s the kind of book that I would love to read it for the first time again because it’s just that good. 

This book talks about elitism. All forms of it. It justified murder and cruelty. It paints the perpetrators of evil as victims of the world. And it’s told in the perspective of an unreliable narrator. So in essence, yes it is like Crime and Punishment but also it’s not because of some elements in that great work that was omitted in this one for the sake of aesthetics. It truly is a great depiction of Dark Academia. 

Basically…it’s a book about a bunch of young privileged people who read a lot and wanted the books they’ve read to be very much like their reality, to the extent that they exerted great effort to make it so but of course since that’s not possible, they got what is coming for them…or did they? 

If you’re interested in my non-spoiler-free review of the book here’s a link to a Google docs (I am still editing it as time passes, I believe I will be writing on it for days): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S7H7sngXGufWGDjYXNRlV5yGVmhlY_T1VoxqCUFW53M/edit?usp=sharing