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A review by nearit
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A comedy of manners with murder at its heart, The Secret History is giddy on its own poisons. Tartt is at her best when she is at her worst, ripping eager students and ordinary people to tatters. There is enough in those descriptions to point to what they leave out, just as the more romantic elements of the book suggest their own unmaking. In the end, the author's way with a cutting detail overpowers her ability to make you feel like you're in the club, and the pacing of both halves of the book - somehow both urgent and relaxed, hyper-observant yet avoiding as much as it exposes - makes a fine sport out of this tension.
There is a stranger lacuna where the characters of Henry and Julian are concerned. Given their centrality to the book's action and themes, I need to spend some more time thinking about whether this absence helps or hinders the narrative. Elsewhere, my own scholarship (five minutes on Wikipedia) suggests that Jake and Gwyneth Paltrow wanted to adapt the novel so they could play the twins, which suggest it's not just the classic classics that may lead us into questionable choices.
There is a stranger lacuna where the characters of Henry and Julian are concerned. Given their centrality to the book's action and themes, I need to spend some more time thinking about whether this absence helps or hinders the narrative. Elsewhere, my own scholarship (five minutes on Wikipedia) suggests that Jake and Gwyneth Paltrow wanted to adapt the novel so they could play the twins, which suggest it's not just the classic classics that may lead us into questionable choices.