A review by soots
The Secret History, by Donna Tartt

dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

I really wanted to like it, truly, but it was so boring from the protagonist's perspective (the book is written in 1st person's pov). The whole book itself felt pretentious, if that can ever happen. None of the characters were likeable, and much of the dialogues and narratives had content and mentions of topics that definitely needed trigger warnings, some of which weren't even necessary to the narrative. There was very little plot progression, safe for one plot twist in the end that got me confused and irritated. Finishing the book left me wondering why I actually did not listen to my own advice to stop this reading this book when I was at page 85. There are much better books than this that does exactly what this book was trying to do. The writing was lovely, though.
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