A review by themis_biblos
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

 [It was] my own fatal tendency to try to make interesting people good. 
 I loved Donna Tartt's writing. I was absolutely absorbed in these terribly pretentious, unlikeable characters' lives. That's probably also why it was so horribly depressing. I'll keep some passages I loved most, but otherwise this book has to go into the freezer. I am disturbed.
 The Greeks had a passion for order and symmetry, but they knew how foolish it was to deny emotion, darkness, barbary. 
 The more cultivated a person is, the more repressed, then the more he needs some method of channeling the primitive impulses he's worked so hard to subdue. Otherwise those powerful old forces will mass and strengthen until they are violent enough to break free, more violent for the delay. 
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