A review by charity_ix
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

After hearing about this book for months, I finally read it and I have lots of thoughts. As you can tell by my star rating, I enjoyed it. The general premise of the book is very interesting and is executed well. I live for the dark academia genre, and this book gave that and so much more.

I think Book I is superior to Book II. It took a while to get into, but once I did, I was fully invested. The introduction to a secretive friend group in a Greek class with a mix of murder is the perfect combination that had me anticipating more. The events that take place in Book I are straightforward and I thought I knew where the book was leading.

Then there's Book II. I was eager to begin this part knowing the fear and paranoia of being caught would be high. But, I believe this time was cut too short and there should've been more of the chase between the group and the FBI. I also think that Book II fell flat in the middle. One last nitpick I have is that I felt the professor proved to be a useless component of The Secret History. It may have been cliche, but I would've preferred a cliche over nothing but cowardice to explain his character. I found the ending slightly odd because I felt the author was hinting at something else. Henry was on the verge of a murderous spree, but instead he suddenly feels noble and shoots himself in the head?
 

While reading Book II, I realized that the focus of the story being told is not about the murders, but about the group. Understanding this made me look at this book in a different way, consequently, I appreciated it more. The characters were written amazingly and I could go in detail about all of them.

I did feel something minuscule was missing, but I can't put my finger on it. Although I had multiple criticisms of The Secret History, it truly is a phenomenal book. I highly recommend it for the amazing characters and engaging plot. 
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