The Secret History by Donna Tartt Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Secret History
Book Review: A good substantial read
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is written in the first person, Richard Papen.
He tells the story of his college days, the people who became his closest friends, and the day that changed all of their lives forever. The death of one of the small group of students becomes a focus of the story.
After beginning huis college career studying the Classics and Greek language at a local college, Richard leaves his unhappy home in California, looking for a new start and a place where he feels that he belongs.
He believes he has found it when he attends Hampden College in Vermont. During his first days there he finds himself intrigued by a small group of students that he sees on campus. He seeks out information and finds that they are regarded as unique, if not strange by the other students. This appeals to him, and he sets out to become one of their number, and succeeds. All too well, unfortunately. The group is made up of Henry, Francis, Charles and Camilla who are twins. There is one other member, Edmund, called Bunny by friends and family.
In order to belong to this exclusive group, he has to forsake nearly all of his studies at Hampden to immerse himself in Greek Studies. The teacher himself is not particularly highly regarded at Hampden, as he keeps to himself and has his own set of rules both for teaching, and it seems, for life itself. His students have to adapt to his ways, and only those who themselves are out of the ordinary in some way seem to be willing to do so. Julian's personal approval is required .
Death of a friend will change any of us in some way. The death of one of this small group sends shock waves through the lives of all of the others. Secrecy and even lies among the group only serve to make things worse. Drugs, alcohol and jealousy don't help.
This is a terrific read. I give it four stars and recommend it highly
Book Review: A gripping and compelling page-turner
Summary: 5 Stars
As many other reviewers have noted, this is a novel that is so easy to read it almost seems to read itself. There is nothing simplistic or superficially "easy" about the book, but it the story is just told so well and is so inherently compelling that almost no effort whatsoever is required to work one's way through it. It is, in short, a delight to read.
The story concerns the killing of one student by a group of other students in a small liberal arts college in Vermont (think along the lines of Middlebury). This is not a spoiler since we are apprised of this on the first couple of pages of the novel. From there the question for the reader is why they killed him. The knowledge from the very beginning of the novel that Bunny was doomed lends a strangely tragic atmosphere over every page in which he appears. I initially wondered if the author had given away too much by revealing the murder at the beginning of the novel, but as I read I found this knowledge framed the novel in a way not otherwise possible had we not knowledge that Bunny was doomed. I think it was a brilliant move.
The novel deals a great deal with class distinction in the US without really saying much about class. This is one of the books few flaws. Five of the six students are privileged, either economically or socially. Richard, the novel's narrator, is a working class student from California, while the other five are from the east coast. The latter five are presented as decadent. Most of them are hard drinking, drug abusing, and in some instances sexually deviant (and I'm not referring to the student who turns out to be gay). They also turn out to be murderous.
The central story of the novel is concerns Richard's entrance to the world of the novel's fictitious Vermont college and his initiation into the small, closed off world of the students who work under the college's eccentric but gifted Classics professor Julian Morrow. The novel's central irony is that Julian clearly believes he is educating the elite of not only Hampden College but of society at large. That they all possessed the "fatal flaw" mentioned in the book's first sentence is the central conceit of the novel. Tartt details in fine form Richard's growing friendships and experiences with the other five students and the intricate web of betrayal and deceit it grows into. The main delight of the novel derives from how outstandingly Tartt details this story. Whatever else the book is, it is a great yarn.
I'd like to single one aspect out for special praise. Most of the characters in the novel are male while the author is female. Now, it should not really matter what gender a writer belongs to, but unfortunately many writers simply don't handle the opposite sex very well. Think of the many complaints of Hemingway's depiction of female character. I've often complained of the male characters in Iris Murdoch's novels. It is obvious that even very good writers--and both Hemingway and Murdoch fall into that category--do not always create compelling characters of the opposite sex. Other writers manage to avoid the problems by mainly writing from the standpoint of a character with the same sex as their own. Think in this regard of Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. Their protagonists are almost always male. Or Margaret Atwood, who almost always writes from the standpoint of a woman. Now, there is nothing wrong about any of this. Donna Tartt has written a novel centered almost exclusively on male characters (there is one major female character, but she usually remains somewhat quietly in the background), written from a male point of view. And she has done so marvelously. This is an achievement that should not be underrated.
In short, this is an extremely fine novel in every way. I can give it my strongest possible endorsement. And many thanks to my daughter Elizabeth for giving this to me as a Christmas present.
Book Review: A gripping story.
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed this book by Donna Tartt. I immediately picked up her other novel Little Friend, after I finished this one. To me, that is the mark of a great novelist.
Tartt has a way with the pace of the story that sucks the reader in almost immediately and doesn't let go. This story is bizarre and thrilling. I couldn't put it down.
Highly recommended read!
Book Review: A modern Greek tragedy
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Secret History" is a story about a group of undergraduate classical studies students who kill one of their friends. Don't worry, I'm not giving away the plot: the murder occurs on the very first page of the book, and then the reader is taken back to the events leading up to the incident.
The narrator of the story is Richard Papen, a young man who leaves his lower-class California family in search of bigger and better things on the East Coast. Shortly after enrolling at a small college in Vermont, Richard switch over to a major in classical studies. This major is unlike any other program in the school in that there is only one professor, the brilliant but immoral Julian. Furthermore, Julian insists that Richard drops all his other classes in order to fully devote himself to the demanding classical studies curriculum.
In addition to Richard, there are five other students participating in the classical studies program. They come across as snobby and arrogant at first, but Richard finds himself drawn to them and is eventually accepted into their circle. After a while, Richard learns a terrible secret about four of his new friends: they accidentally killed a man during a crazy bacchanalian revel. When a member of their group, Bunny, appears likely to spill the secret, the others decide that the only solution is to kill him, too. Not surprisingly, Bunny's death has a powerful effect on everyone in the group, and they each begin acting out in their own ways.
This is an intriguing book that really pays tribute to the classic Greek tragedies: the story features betrayal, conspiracy, murder, and even incest. It's interesting to see how the violent events in the story take a toll on each of the characters individually. Author Donna Tartt is an amazing storyteller who really keeps the reader in suspense throughout the entire book. My only complaint is that this book is overly detailed, and as a result could easily be about 200 pages shorter. In spite of it's length, though, this is a brilliantly written psychological thriller, and it's a truly amazing effort for a first novel.
Book Review: A stunningly brilliant debut novel.
Summary: 5 Stars
A pity that she dropped the ball with her second work, "The Little Friend" but some writers only have the one great book in them. Hopefully that is not the case and she makes a comeback with her next novel.