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A review by thechaliceofaries
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
5.0
Some things are too terrible to grasp at once. Other things - naked, sputtering, indelible in their horror - are too terrible to really grasp ever at all. It is only later, in solitude, in memory, that the realization dawns: when the ashes are cold; when the mourners have departed; when one looks around and finds oneself - quite to one's surprise - in an entirely different world.
I loved this! Such loving, beautiful language, such an absorbing and well-paced storyline, such fascinating and flawed characters! Every scene is described with cinematic elegance, and every character enriched in overlapping, mirroring shades of grey; such that no one can be considered to be fully good nor truly evil. The protagonist Richard is an aesthete with a penchant for romanticising the world around him, something that lent the narration of the story a gorgeously dreamlike quality throughout. The whole of this novel was so cleverly done.
It is difficult, in retrospect, to explain exactly what the story is about. “A group of extraordinary college kids get wrapped up in murder”, while capturing the basic essence of it, is nowhere near capable of doing justice to every aspect of this that I enjoyed. It is an ode to youth; a love letter to beauty; a tragedy, a comedy, and a thrilling literary masterpiece all at once.
I loved this! Such loving, beautiful language, such an absorbing and well-paced storyline, such fascinating and flawed characters! Every scene is described with cinematic elegance, and every character enriched in overlapping, mirroring shades of grey; such that no one can be considered to be fully good nor truly evil. The protagonist Richard is an aesthete with a penchant for romanticising the world around him, something that lent the narration of the story a gorgeously dreamlike quality throughout. The whole of this novel was so cleverly done.
It is difficult, in retrospect, to explain exactly what the story is about. “A group of extraordinary college kids get wrapped up in murder”, while capturing the basic essence of it, is nowhere near capable of doing justice to every aspect of this that I enjoyed. It is an ode to youth; a love letter to beauty; a tragedy, a comedy, and a thrilling literary masterpiece all at once.