The Secret History: A Read with Jenna Pick

by Donna Tartt

A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A contemporary literary classic and "an accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (Village Voice), from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Goldfinch.

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.

“A remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment . . . Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.” —The New York Times

• ISBN10: 1400031702
• ISBN13: 9781400031702
• Publish Date: 13 April 2004 (first published 5 September 1992)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Vintage Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 576
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781400031702

Reviews

[chetofuor]

Dark academia version of Crime and Punishment with a full cast of flawed characters? I was obviously relishing in it. However, it started to drag on the last 200 pages culminating in a lackluster ending and epilogue – which funny enough is also the gripe I had with Crime and Punishment.

[roundtableknight]

"Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly for the ones that I did not."
~
Rating: 5/5 stars (read June 27th 2020)
~
The thing is, if someone were to ask what happened in this book that made me love it so much and rush through like I was in a hazy sort of dream—I wouldn't know what to say. This book is if you were inebriated; it's a book that the pages rush past mundanely, but by the end all you can say about it is the most poetic, scary, and awful parts that you can't help but love. Richard, as a protagonist, isn't a very good main character in terms of a growth in himself, but the story he tells is definitely one to remember. I honestly don't know how Donna Tartt manages to write stories that hold you close and don't let go even when the curtains have fallen and the story's over. And Francis. I could write a thesis on his character, but I need to reread the book again to do that—which I very much plan to.

So, in essence, I implore you to read this book: if not for the characters, lush details, and an amazing author—then for a story you will never forget.

[moraa]

Wonderful.

I can't think of anything I would change in this book. I really can't.

Another one to add to the favourites (aka 5-star) list. It's been lonely there.

[readingwithbecs]

This book was sooo long. I was bored throughout most of the book. The only reason I did not DNF this, was because (almost) all the booktubers I follow have loved it. So I was waiting to be swept away like them by the book. But it just did not happen.

[clementine]

I was prepared to give this 5 stars up until around page 500. It's not exactly that it lagged - with The Little Friend, I just kind of wanted it to be over by that point, but I didn't quite feel that way with The Secret History. I just didn't think it needed to keep going. The ending was incredibly anticlimactic: everything post-Bunny murder just was not as thrilling as the rest of the novel, I suppose by necessity. And this one ran into the same issue as The Goldfinch for me: the final pages just didn't need to be included. I did not need to know where each character ended up, you know? It's such a bummer of a way to conclude a book like this.

However, obviously, I still liked it. I liked that it was a mystery, but not in the regular sense. You know the outcome from the beginning; it's more a matter of "How did it get to that place?", and, of course "Will they get caught?" which drive the narrative. And knowing what happens keeps the tension dialled up to the extreme - I don't know that I'd call this book a thriller, but it's almost as thrilling as one despite its relatively slow pace. Tartt dropped so many tantalizing clues and hints that made me want to keep reading. This one was a page-turner in a way her other books weren't, to me, and I read it a lot faster as a result.

As usual, I loved her writing: lush, descriptive, and enviable overall. I liked the characters, too, although I suppose "liked" is the wrong word since none of them were particularly likeable. (Why do I like unlikeable characters so much?!) The characters do require a bit of suspension of disbelief - I'm okay to believe that liberal arts students in their early twenties are very pretentious, but these characters were extremely pretentious (insufferable, even) and on top of that talked like they were 1900s British uppercrust. But I suppose the remarkability of their pretention (and their belief in it) is what made all the events possible.

I've had issues with all of Donna Tartt's books but I've still rated them all four stars because I enjoy them despite their flaws. I'll probably pick up whatever she puts out next, though that will most likely be the better part of a decade from now.