A Lazy Reader's Review of "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

 Synopsis

    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 they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last – inexorably – into evil.

Review

    This is a love letter to Donna Tartt.

    I don't know what else I could say about this book that hasn't been said already. But I'll say it anyway.

    From the prologue, I was so immersed in this little world in Hampden that Tartt managed to create. It was as though nothing outside of this small town in New England existed and I was okay with that. More than okay. After I read the last few lines on the last page of this book, I sat in silence for a few minutes. How incredibly clever is Tartt that she was able to get me invested into a small group of young adults with too much time on their hands and even more money than anyone knew what to do with. Each one of them so very pretentious and so out of touch with any reality that existed outside of their so very narrow ones. 

    This book was hilarious at times in instances such as when we learn that Henry, as clever and smart as he is, did not know that man had landed on the moon. But, this book was very dark at times from Richard thinking, albeit briefly, about raping Camilla to Henry deluding himself into believing that he could do whatever he wanted because he thought himself above the average man in all the ways that mattered to him, so much that he had no qualms with murdering his so-called "close friend". Each of the characters in this book were complex, flawed, annoying, and hypocrites. Each of them pursuing their own sense of the picturesque and beauty, each of them ultimately ending up living their own personal hells. Bunny, who was doomed from the beginning, is murdered by those who he thought were his closest friends, Francis, a gay man who is forced to enter a loveless marriage with a woman he loathes, Charles abandons his family and runs off with a thirty year old married woman and lives with her in Texas, Camilla is stuck caring for her ailing grandmother, Henry ends up killing himself and even in death he does not know peace, and Richard moves back to California that place he was trying to escape at the beginning of the story. And none of them, save Richard, finish their education.

    There's so much more than I can say about this book, but we'd honestly be here forever. I cannot recommend this book enough. However, I warn those who are thinking of picking it up that there are several trigger warnings that stem from racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc. So proceed accordingly.

    For this being Tartt's debut novel I think she really shot it out of the park. I wish she still published, but she has only written three books, the latest one being released in 2013. But, that's neither here nor there.

    I will definitely be rereading this book and annotating it further.

Sept. 13, 2024 – Sept. 25, 2024

★★★★★

Favorite Quote: "There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But beauty – unless she is wed to something more meaningful – is always superficial." ~ pg. 511