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A review by kelsyer
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Where should I start?
If you have seen me around, you probably know that I am a huge mythology fan, went to uni studying Literature (never finished it), have read and judged books through the academic lense until I relearned how to read for my enjoyment and steered off reading books for fanfics for a couple of years. When I rarely resurficed, I mostly read fantasy, with medium or high pace.
In spite of this, or maybe because of this background, I loved The Secret History. I will be the first to admit that I haven't understood it all the way and yes, I am already planning my next read through.
This is a book that I will know be circling around my mind for a while, as it has complex characters, unreliable narrator, dark academia vibes, has Greek mythology in it and also many sentences about stars and trees and descriptions of light and shadows. All the things that I like. (I really want to understand the trees. The trees, Richard!)
Tartt's writing is masterful, really. I feel like she was a pupeteer, moving them and us in a way that she wanted us to move, to look, to think.
I picked up the book after it was sitting somewhere in the middle of my tbr for years and I had no idea what it's going to be about (as my habit).
At the Prologue I was immediately horrified and intrigued at the same time; a couple hundred pages later I was lectured about this fascination, great and terrible at the same time.
In my Notes app I have written some thoughs about what I have picked up in the book, but I do not want this review to feel like an 'in this essay, I will...'
If you have seen me around, you probably know that I am a huge mythology fan, went to uni studying Literature (never finished it), have read and judged books through the academic lense until I relearned how to read for my enjoyment and steered off reading books for fanfics for a couple of years. When I rarely resurficed, I mostly read fantasy, with medium or high pace.
In spite of this, or maybe because of this background, I loved The Secret History. I will be the first to admit that I haven't understood it all the way and yes, I am already planning my next read through.
This is a book that I will know be circling around my mind for a while, as it has complex characters, unreliable narrator, dark academia vibes, has Greek mythology in it and also many sentences about stars and trees and descriptions of light and shadows. All the things that I like. (I really want to understand the trees. The trees, Richard!)
Tartt's writing is masterful, really. I feel like she was a pupeteer, moving them and us in a way that she wanted us to move, to look, to think.
I picked up the book after it was sitting somewhere in the middle of my tbr for years and I had no idea what it's going to be about (as my habit).
At the Prologue I was immediately horrified and intrigued at the same time; a couple hundred pages later I was lectured about this fascination, great and terrible at the same time.
In my Notes app I have written some thoughs about what I have picked up in the book, but I do not want this review to feel like an 'in this essay, I will...'