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ettegoom's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I don't know what it is about American novels as a genre, but they all seem to have truly terrible humans in them. I couldn't decide whether I wanted things to work out for everyone in the end, or for them to all end up dead/incarcerated.
The story is a complete train wreck from start to finish. The characters are a bunch of 'poor little rich kids' joined by the narrator, a scholarship student, who manages to join the group, yet remains an outsider whilst still being intimately involved in trying to protect the group.
A friend saw me reading this, and asked if a review that she'd seen entitled "what the hell Richard" was correct. Yes it's correct, but I'm still not entirely sure what the reviewer was referring to, because there are so many what the heck? moments for every character, that is hard to single out any particular moment that could have triggered the reviewer's response
The writing is compelling and I read the book over about three days where I struggled to put it down. I don't know whether I enjoyed it per se, but I most certainly wanted to know what was going to happen next.
The story is a complete train wreck from start to finish. The characters are a bunch of 'poor little rich kids' joined by the narrator, a scholarship student, who manages to join the group, yet remains an outsider whilst still being intimately involved in trying to protect the group.
A friend saw me reading this, and asked if a review that she'd seen entitled "what the hell Richard" was correct. Yes it's correct, but I'm still not entirely sure what the reviewer was referring to, because there are so many what the heck? moments for every character, that is hard to single out any particular moment that could have triggered the reviewer's response
The writing is compelling and I read the book over about three days where I struggled to put it down. I don't know whether I enjoyed it per se, but I most certainly wanted to know what was going to happen next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism
jellyparfum's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia
Minor: Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Classism
connnnn's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
4.5 stars with better editing
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Classism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Xenophobia
becandthebooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
"...one mustn't underestimate the primal appeal - to lose one's self, lose it utterly. And in losing it be born to the principle of continuous life, outside the prison of mortality and time."
Well Henry, you definitely achieved it!
The Secret History really needs no introduction. It is the book that birthed the aesthetic of Dark Academia and other novels, movies and TV series that follow the "rules": Dark and moody atmosphere, University or College setting, a group of troubled students, drinking, drugs, secrets, lies, sex, classic studies, libraries and books, a poor underdog, a rich kid or two and of course, murder. Some of my favourite examples that I believe were influenced by this book are, but not limited too: "If We Were Villains", "Bunny" & of course the now cult classic movie that only came out last year (2023), "Saltburn". I even made note of these in my edition whenever something really strongly reminded me of one of these stories.
The novel is written from our main protagonists, Richard's, perspective. Starting out being introduced to the college when he starts his degree, managing to talk his way into the class he actually wanted to do (Greek) and then watching the rest of the story unfold in a fast spiral of deceit, lies and addiction.
All of the characters are very dense. They all have good sides, but they all also have very dark sides. It really does keep the reader engaged because you just never know who is going to cause the next "...extremely rapid progression of events." I honestly didn't like any of them. It was like watching multiple trains coming at each other head on and none of them slowing down. Everyone, in one way or another, contributed to the ultimate messy ending.
The book really has a dark undertone of depression and death. Not just because of the events that occur throughout it, but just in the every day conversations between the characters. The amount of lines I highlighted that really resonated with the sad/depressed (and yes, even teenage 'ending it all') side of me provided a strange sense of clarity. Not in a bad way, but in a way that nothing has to be so dramatic: "Horrific as it was, the present dark, I was afraid to leave it for the other permanent dark..." and, weirdly enough "I suppose I was only a little depressed, now the novelty of it had worn off."
The writing itself is so lyrical and magical. The pictures that Tartt paints are so vivid and stunning. From inside the College, to the grounds surrounding it, the country estates and even the bland local town. I was not prepared to leave these pages. They are bright, beautiful and hopeful, but can also be claustrophobic, dark and dank. I could almost smell some of scenes straight off the pages.
Overall, The Secret History met, and even succeeded, my expectations. I knew about it, but I had always purposefully not gone into any deep dives because I didn't want to know too much the story before I got to read it myself. I will be reading Tartt's other novels very very soon!
I want to leave this review with an annotation I made near the beginning of the novel when Richard is describing looking at the brochure for Hampden College and studying a photo of the building called Commons that I had flagged as 'dark academia in description': "It was suffused with a weak academic light - different from Plano, different from anything I had ever known - a light that made me think of long hours in dusty libraries, and old books, and silence."
Well Henry, you definitely achieved it!
The Secret History really needs no introduction. It is the book that birthed the aesthetic of Dark Academia and other novels, movies and TV series that follow the "rules": Dark and moody atmosphere, University or College setting, a group of troubled students, drinking, drugs, secrets, lies, sex, classic studies, libraries and books, a poor underdog, a rich kid or two and of course, murder. Some of my favourite examples that I believe were influenced by this book are, but not limited too: "If We Were Villains", "Bunny" & of course the now cult classic movie that only came out last year (2023), "Saltburn". I even made note of these in my edition whenever something really strongly reminded me of one of these stories.
The novel is written from our main protagonists, Richard's, perspective. Starting out being introduced to the college when he starts his degree, managing to talk his way into the class he actually wanted to do (Greek) and then watching the rest of the story unfold in a fast spiral of deceit, lies and addiction.
All of the characters are very dense. They all have good sides, but they all also have very dark sides. It really does keep the reader engaged because you just never know who is going to cause the next "...extremely rapid progression of events." I honestly didn't like any of them. It was like watching multiple trains coming at each other head on and none of them slowing down. Everyone, in one way or another, contributed to the ultimate messy ending.
The book really has a dark undertone of depression and death. Not just because of the events that occur throughout it, but just in the every day conversations between the characters. The amount of lines I highlighted that really resonated with the sad/depressed (and yes, even teenage 'ending it all') side of me provided a strange sense of clarity. Not in a bad way, but in a way that nothing has to be so dramatic: "Horrific as it was, the present dark, I was afraid to leave it for the other permanent dark..." and, weirdly enough "I suppose I was only a little depressed, now the novelty of it had worn off."
The writing itself is so lyrical and magical. The pictures that Tartt paints are so vivid and stunning. From inside the College, to the grounds surrounding it, the country estates and even the bland local town. I was not prepared to leave these pages. They are bright, beautiful and hopeful, but can also be claustrophobic, dark and dank. I could almost smell some of scenes straight off the pages.
Overall, The Secret History met, and even succeeded, my expectations. I knew about it, but I had always purposefully not gone into any deep dives because I didn't want to know too much the story before I got to read it myself. I will be reading Tartt's other novels very very soon!
I want to leave this review with an annotation I made near the beginning of the novel when Richard is describing looking at the brochure for Hampden College and studying a photo of the building called Commons that I had flagged as 'dark academia in description': "It was suffused with a weak academic light - different from Plano, different from anything I had ever known - a light that made me think of long hours in dusty libraries, and old books, and silence."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder
cynthia_wlms's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Car accident, and Death of parent
roaming_enn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Does such a thing as "the fatal flaw," that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside of literature? It used to think it didn't. Now I think it does. And I think mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.
Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. And what could be more terrifying and beautiful, to souls like t he Greeks or our own, than to lose control completely? To throw off the chains of being for an instant, to shatter the accident of our mortal selves?
Summary:
This book is about a bunch of Ancient Greek undergraduate students and that time they murdered one of their classmates. The one who dies is revealed in the beginning, and it is the HOW they get there that's the real story. The story is told in first-person through Richard Papen's POV, a newest Greek student that the professor accepts, newest member of the group that had been together for longer. He is writing just under a decade after the events of the book.
Thoughts:
I love how academic it was, and it feels like a book written by an academic (which it was) for other academics. The author doesn't hold your hand, assuming you're smart enough to follow the story with what she gives you. There was at least one scene that I thought was entirely unnecessary for the Islamophobia it spewed, and I'm still not sure why it was included. The ending was a little disappointing because I wanted things to be a particular way but they ended up not. I wish it had been more than just a handful of years later when the story is told, rather than Richard still being a young man. But in either case, a lot of people seem to hate this book. I loved it. I don't love the characters, but I found them, and the story, REALLY compelling. And for me, that makes up for not loving the characters.
Be sure to check all the content warnings. I tried to include as many as I could think of in this review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Islamophobia
Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Vomit, and Antisemitism
katieimre's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
brennerson's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is actually haunting me, and it’s all I can think about. I loved learning about these characters from the POV of Richard (but I desperately need Camilla’s POV) because I also felt like I was trying to make it in the group as an outsider. Trying to figure out the subtle glances or dialogue between characters reminded me of meeting a group of very close people for the first time and not fully understanding their relationships but still being mesmerized by them.
But if you want loveable, sweet characters, and a reliable narrator, this is not the book!
But if you want loveable, sweet characters, and a reliable narrator, this is not the book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Incest
Minor: Rape
knicke's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Secret History is so well written; it’s delicious from start to finish. Tartt writes from Richard’s point of view so incredibly well I forgot he wasn’t actually the author of the novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Incest and Murder
brivie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book has become one of my favorites!!! I love the found family trope but this was done in such a unique way. I love how Richard (the narrator) isn't as involved in the secrets of the story and this reminded me of Nick from The Great Gatsby. The end made me close the book shut and reflect before I left myself move on to the epilogue. The dark academia vibes in this book are unmatched!!! The exposition and descriptions of the characters always created such a vivid image in my mind. Such a stunningly dark story that I fell in love with!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment