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hannaelisab 's review for:
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
donna tartt has a way of making you care about unmoral, unlikeable characters just to reveal an even darker secret a few pages later. obviously, her writing style is gorgeously aesthetic — the quote ,,beauty is terror...whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.'' will forever be ingrained in my brain. on the other hand, i found that the secret history had some pacing problems. the first part of the book (which are about 250 pages, maybe more!) were so slow plot-wise that i had real difficulty coming back to continue reading. the second part of the book definitely picked up the pace though, and while the novel could've been 200 pages shorter, the murderous plots & fascinatingly terrible characters truly sucked me in!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Incest, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt