A review by tori214
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Oh.... uh.... alright. 

 

Well then. I don’t really know how to articulate my thoughts on this well, so I’ll do it in the simplest possible terms. 

 

I thought the story was enjoyable and interesting but the characters were extremely unlikable.

I really only liked one (and a half) character(s), but he didn’t even get a happy ending. None of them did really,

and my dislike of this book might also be due to the fact that I’m finishing this the day after Christmas and I’ve simply been in the mood for something upbeat and warm. 

 

The writing style was dense and definitely and acquired taste, but I personally really, really enjoyed it. However, the timeline was a little messy at times. There was this one thing Tartt did an astonishing amount where she would have the characters say “Remember when {this thing} happened?” but it wouldn’t be something that had previously been explained to the reader. The characters would have a conversation about it, AND THEN she would explain the event to the reader, instead of just letting us know when it happened in the first place and calling back to it later. 

 

Not to mention the fact that the last 100 pages or so where very repetitive, but then there was the final couple pages and the epilogue that was sort of a reprieve. 

 

It was alright. There were a few things I really enjoyed but there were too many flaws for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Violence, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Suicide, Islamophobia, and Incest

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Excrement, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Violence