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A review by tampojo
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
dark
mysterious
tense
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
4.5
I have a lot of feelings about this book, and I’m too tired to express most of them right now, so consider this review unfinished.
I understand why some people hate it. This book has flaws, and I have definitely have many issues with some of the choices Donna Tart made, some of which are very problematic. But I will never forget the way it felt to read this book for the first time. It started slow, and took me a long time to get through the first few chapters, but once I got to around the fourth chapter, I absolutely could not put it down. It’s captivating. Immersive. Watching the lives of these pretentious rich kids spiral out of control due to their own bad choices was incredibly satisfying.
I think I enjoyed this book more than some did due to the fact I chose to read it through the perspective of Richard being an unreliable narrator, which allowed me to speculate outside of Richards narrative. I believe there was much more going on behind the scenes that Richard never revealed, especially with Julian. He views his classmates and everything they do through a rose-colored lens, and that is one of the many, many issues he has.
Overall, I view it as a novel that emphasizes the danger of philosophical concepts turning into an obsession, where the the more one thinks about it, the more plausible it seems. Once that hypothetical concept is brought into reality, things spiral out of control when the consequences are only realized after the fact. The crimes committed seem unthinkable from an outside perspective, but in their isolation and obsessive thinking, the characters loose their sense of morality, lost in a world made only of their philosophical and intellectual “superiority”.
At the end of the day, either you like the book or you don’t. It’s just up to personal taste.
I understand why some people hate it. This book has flaws, and I have definitely have many issues with some of the choices Donna Tart made, some of which are very problematic. But I will never forget the way it felt to read this book for the first time. It started slow, and took me a long time to get through the first few chapters, but once I got to around the fourth chapter, I absolutely could not put it down. It’s captivating. Immersive. Watching the lives of these pretentious rich kids spiral out of control due to their own bad choices was incredibly satisfying.
I think I enjoyed this book more than some did due to the fact I chose to read it through the perspective of Richard being an unreliable narrator, which allowed me to speculate outside of Richards narrative. I believe there was much more going on behind the scenes that Richard never revealed, especially with Julian. He views his classmates and everything they do through a rose-colored lens, and that is one of the many, many issues he has.
Overall, I view it as a novel that emphasizes the danger of philosophical concepts turning into an obsession, where the the more one thinks about it, the more plausible it seems. Once that hypothetical concept is brought into reality, things spiral out of control when the consequences are only realized after the fact. The crimes committed seem unthinkable from an outside perspective, but in their isolation and obsessive thinking, the characters loose their sense of morality, lost in a world made only of their philosophical and intellectual “superiority”.
At the end of the day, either you like the book or you don’t. It’s just up to personal taste.