The Secret History

Reviews

1. 

   Bloopers – July 28, 2024

   How NOT to behave in college
   I love the writing in this. It was a fascinating bildungsroman , made me think about my own college experience though it wasn’t as crazy as this one. The setting was beautifully described here , the fall season and the idyllic New England College town. This was more of a character driven story with the thriller aspect only as a background . The characters weren’t the most likeable but I really enjoyed reading them. They were self absorbed , arrogant , intelligent but very naive at the same time. They were such a tight knit group that the outside world almost didn’t exist for them . A fascinating read , I only read one other Donna Tartt book The Goldfinch but I liked this one a lot better.

2. 

   Sandra Avila – July 28, 2024

   El libro llegó en tiempo y forma.Ya hablando de la lectura la disfrute mucho. Tiene una buena historia y un ritmo que te mantiene enganchado.

3. 

   Sora – July 28, 2024

   Personally for me, this was a great book.The style of writing was unique and charming – and though while it was sometimes laborious to try and get through the descriptions were amazing and captured this sense of both complexity (through the usage of details of the background and surroundings) and simplicity (through the usage of simple, realistic dialogue between characters.)What succeeded in drawing me into this book was the way it was presented – told through Richard who was fundamentally an outsider of the group even at least slightly until the very end. Throughout the entire book theres this outsider-type of feeling you experience while reading and it shows that Donna Tartt was able to perfectly capture this. The unreliable narrator and the many scenes where things are kept a mystery (Henry and Camilla, etc.) all fit into this as well as they will be something Richard will never know – and in turn, we as the readers will never know.This book can be read as both something extremely deep: a showcase and satirical telling of aestheticism and elitism, of the dangers of what someone will do to achieve the picturesque. Even the eventual reveal of Charles and Camilla fit this narrative – showing that truly in pursuit of this odd godhood-like life and self that they forgo basic morals. So does Henry and all the members of the group, who all find this odd justification for all the deeds they have done – painting murder as nothing more than a redistribution of matter or worrying about it for entirely selfish reasons.It can be also read as it’s most basic, purest form. Throwing aside the metaphors, symbolisms and all, the basis of the book is really just shitty people doing shitty things. And while despite this being an extremely simple assumption of the book, it is very symbolic as well – showing that despite the way the Greek class views the world, the things they do and the “gods” they metaphorically believes themselves to be – that all of their actions and lives are still just regular, average lives. Where there isn’t a divine or holy explanation – where there isn’t a romanticized play of the murder but rather just cold harsh truth. They aren’t anything special and really, shitty people doing shitty things is what they are.A while ago I heard of the title of “The Secret History” translated into different languages and in what I think is the Italian translation (?) the title is “The gods party at night”. Both titles fit beautifully – the “Secret History” referring to how much of the Greek class’s history will remain secret, from the world and Richard and “The gods party at night” refers to how they view themselves and later the bacchanal.

4. 

   Emily Helal – July 28, 2024

   Tartt’s book is sure to have paved the way for dark academia. On its release, The New York Times said: “Imagine the plot of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment crossed with the story of Euripides’ Bacchae set against the backdrop of Bret Easton Ellis’s Rules of Attraction and told in the elegant, ruminative voice of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.”

5. 

   F̦r tunna f̦r att ̦va djup p̴, d̴ beh̦vs 3mm РJuly 28, 2024

   Fantastiskt välskriven