Book Review / The Secret History by Donna Tartt

 

 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 for ever.

Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt's cult bestseller The Secret History is a remarkable achievement - both compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Published:     1st July 1993
Publisher:  Penguin Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand Alone
Source:  Owned

 

MY REVIEW

I have certainly heard a lot about this book for a very long time.   This is one of those books that I have always meant to pick up but for some reason or another I never do.  This year, for me, is a year of catching up with readling backlist books and books that I have been meaning to get to for a long time.  There's no better place to start than right here with this book. 

We follow a group of 'eccentric misfits' who are all students of a every exclusive history style class. We mainly follow Richard (or at least the story is told mostly in his view) who starts off as an outsider and slowly, over time, gets pulled more and more into this group of characters.  Unfortunately, something bad happens and we see how each of these characters deal with this.  

I am conflicted with this book.  On the one hand, I really enjoyed this book and I couldn't resist reading large batches of this book at the time, enjoying the slow pace and following each of the characters.  On the other hand, this book seemed to be like a very padded version of an everyday thriller that I have read so many of in recent days.  There was no surprises for me in this story and I really wished there would be.

I would still recommend this book as despite the fact that there were no surprises, the story was really good and I really enjoyed the writing.  I will certainly be picking up The Goldfinch at some point in the future.