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The Secret History
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Users say:
Donna Tartt's novel The Secret History is a compelling story of female characters and the struggles of being a woman in a male-dominated world. It is a great read for those who are unfamiliar with the subject, and is worth the effort. The book is full of detail and imagery, and the characters are well-developed. It is a great read for those who are nostalgic for the 20th century, and is worth the effort.
Review summary
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Donna Tartt's novel The Secret History is a compelling story of female characters and the struggles of being a woman in a male-dominated world. It is a great read for those who are unfamiliar with the subject, and is worth the effort. The book is full of detail and imagery, and the characters are well-developed. It is a great read for those who are nostalgic for the 20th century, and is worth the effort.
Pros
- Engaging and funny
- Insightful and thought-provoking
- Relatable for various age groups
- Insightful on various topics
Cons
- Some may find it too simplistic
- May not appeal to all age groups
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Description
Product Description Donna Tartt, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for her most recent novel, The Goldfinch, established herself as a major talent with The Secret History, which has become a contemporary classic. Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill. From Publishers Weekly Tartt's much bruited first novel is a huge (592 pages) rambling story that is sometimes ponderous, sometimes highly entertaining. Part psychological thriller, part chronicle of debauched, wasted youth, it suffers from a basically improbable plot, a fault Tartt often redeems through the bravado of her execution. Narrator Richard Papen comes from a lower-class family and a loveless California home to the "hermetic, overheated atmosphere" of Vermont's Hampden College. Almost too easily, he is accepted into a clique of five socially sophisticated students who study Classics with an idiosyncratic, morally fraudulent professor. Despite their demanding curriculum (they quote Greek classics to each other at every opportunity) the friends spend most of their time drinking and taking pills. Finally they reveal to Richard that they accidentally killed a man during a bacchanalian frenzy; when one of their number seems ready to spill the secret, the group--now including Richard--must kill him, too. The best parts of the book occur after the second murder, when Tartt describes the effect of the death on a small community, the behavior of the victim's family and the conspirators' emotional disintegration. Here her gifts for social satire and character analysis are shown to good advantage and her writing is powerful and evocative. On the other hand, the plot's many inconsistencies, the self-indulgent, high-flown references to classic literature and the reliance on melodrama make one wish this had been a tauter, more focused novel. In the final analysis, however, readers may enjoy the pull of a mysterious, richly detailed story told by a talented writer. 75,000 first printing; BOMC and QPB selections. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author Donna Tartt won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for her most recent Novel. The Goldfinch Her novelsl The Secret History and The Little Friend were also international bestsellers. She was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and is a graduate of Bennington College. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. PROLOGUE THE SNOW in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. Hed been dead for ten days before they found him, you know. It was one of the biggest manhunts in Vermont history-state troopers, the FBI, even an army helicopter; the college closed, the dye factory in Hampden shut down, people coming from New Hampshire, upstate New York, as far away as Boston. It is difficult to believe that Henrys modest plan could have worked so well despite these unforeseen events. We hadnt intended to hide the body where it couldnt be found. In fact, we hadnt hidden it at all but had simply left it where it fell in hopes that some luckless passer-by would stumble over it before anyone even noticed he was missing. This was a tale that told itself simply and well: the loose rocks, the body at the bottom of the ravine with a clean break in the neck, and the muddy skidmarks of dug-in heels pointing the way down; a hiking accident, no more, no less, and it might have been left at that, at quiet tears and a small funeral, had it not been for the snow that fell that night; it covered him without a trace, and ten days later, when the thaw finally