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meloutre 's review for:
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Honestly I just love extremely flawed characters and unreliable narrators soooo this book has definitely become one of my fave books ever!
Yes, it felt pretentious at times, and I'm far from being a classicist so, by not understanding half of the references made by Tartt, I did feel quite like an outcast at times. But idk I enjoyed it actually and I want to believe you re not even supposed to understand all those references, particularly during your first read, because then it puts you in this position of outcast and you can more easily relate to Richard's own need to belong to this group: when you start relating to him (in some aspects, definitely not everything, bc Richard is annoying as hell omg) you're also more easily manipulated into trusting him and his feelings, even though he keeps telling us how unreliable he is!!!!!!
I definitely need to reread it but wow, this book was definitely an experience and I'm so sad I'll never get to read it again for the first time.
I also didn't expect to be violently sobbing while reading this book but bahaha it did happen eventually.
But it's also the funniest book ever written tbh.
Yes, it felt pretentious at times, and I'm far from being a classicist so, by not understanding half of the references made by Tartt, I did feel quite like an outcast at times. But idk I enjoyed it actually and I want to believe you re not even supposed to understand all those references, particularly during your first read, because then it puts you in this position of outcast and you can more easily relate to Richard's own need to belong to this group: when you start relating to him (in some aspects, definitely not everything, bc Richard is annoying as hell omg) you're also more easily manipulated into trusting him and his feelings, even though he keeps telling us how unreliable he is!!!!!!
I definitely need to reread it but wow, this book was definitely an experience and I'm so sad I'll never get to read it again for the first time.
I also didn't expect to be violently sobbing while reading this book but bahaha it did happen eventually.
But it's also the funniest book ever written tbh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape