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charliedezeeuw 's review for:
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
Alright Ma'am Tartt, lets talk.
- DO not let this bad boy deceive you. I thought it was a reasonably medium length paperback. It isn't. She's a big chonk with thin pages. It will take a bit.
I absolutely adore Tartt's writing style. As I am sure I am not the first to say. She writes poetically, and very accurately depicts both characters, locations and aesthetics. This book is slow, human, sinister, melancholic. I would 100% recommend it to a academic wanting to read the big titles. It's just a beautiful book. Now lets discuss the actual story.
We get to know the main character, who is rather shallow and boring, which allows him to connect so obsessively with the Greek academic group. Bunny was an asshole from the get go. Homophobic, racist, no boundaries and just generally of an offensive nature. Did I mind his death? I'll be fair, no I did not. It was only when the tides turned on Henry, who I found as reliable and soft natured as the group thought he was, that I lost my senses. Who was the villain after all? If not the obvious dickhead of the group who was thrown off a ravine?
It is clear the group is disturbed from the get go. The book has this strange, grey undertone of boredom, binge drinking and reading without thinking of meals for days on end. The lives these teens seem to live would easily equate to some serious mental health issues, but that's on another note.
Many people romanticize the lives and styles of these characters. But here are the critique points I managed to build up during the 400 pages of this book.
- Why was it so necessary to make the twins sleep with each other?
- Why did Lucian make moves on the other boys, out of nowhere? This seemed to me to be villainizing the gay kid. Making him the one without understanding of consent.
- Why was there such emphasis on the tank station guy and his encounter with the Arab man in the audience?
- I believe there are loose ends I would like explained a whole lot. The pig's blood idea from Henry. The use of the mushrooms he collected. The random disappearance of the characters at a lot of times, unexplained returns the next week. The physical abuse of Camilla by her brother. Her relationship with Henry. More could be done in the moments where the story stood still for tens of pages on end.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed this one. It's a very unique, sentimental and dark work. Many lines were highlighted and I fully get that hype of her atmospheric writing.
- DO not let this bad boy deceive you. I thought it was a reasonably medium length paperback. It isn't. She's a big chonk with thin pages. It will take a bit.
I absolutely adore Tartt's writing style. As I am sure I am not the first to say. She writes poetically, and very accurately depicts both characters, locations and aesthetics. This book is slow, human, sinister, melancholic. I would 100% recommend it to a academic wanting to read the big titles. It's just a beautiful book. Now lets discuss the actual story.
We get to know the main character, who is rather shallow and boring, which allows him to connect so obsessively with the Greek academic group. Bunny was an asshole from the get go. Homophobic, racist, no boundaries and just generally of an offensive nature. Did I mind his death? I'll be fair, no I did not. It was only when the tides turned on Henry, who I found as reliable and soft natured as the group thought he was, that I lost my senses. Who was the villain after all? If not the obvious dickhead of the group who was thrown off a ravine?
It is clear the group is disturbed from the get go. The book has this strange, grey undertone of boredom, binge drinking and reading without thinking of meals for days on end. The lives these teens seem to live would easily equate to some serious mental health issues, but that's on another note.
Many people romanticize the lives and styles of these characters. But here are the critique points I managed to build up during the 400 pages of this book.
- Why was it so necessary to make the twins sleep with each other?
- Why did Lucian make moves on the other boys, out of nowhere? This seemed to me to be villainizing the gay kid. Making him the one without understanding of consent.
- Why was there such emphasis on the tank station guy and his encounter with the Arab man in the audience?
- I believe there are loose ends I would like explained a whole lot. The pig's blood idea from Henry. The use of the mushrooms he collected. The random disappearance of the characters at a lot of times, unexplained returns the next week. The physical abuse of Camilla by her brother. Her relationship with Henry. More could be done in the moments where the story stood still for tens of pages on end.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed this one. It's a very unique, sentimental and dark work. Many lines were highlighted and I fully get that hype of her atmospheric writing.