The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Secret History was Donna Tartt's debut novel, originally published back in 1992. It has recently gained a lot of traction, being ranked on the best of #Booktok and even being nominated for the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize for Fiction in 2023. Donna Tartt's most recent novel, The Goldfinch, is also on my list to read. It was published in 2013 and both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. The Secret History deals with addiction and alcoholism, references of animal death, bullying, gun violence, homophobia, death, mental illness, panic attacks, references to physical abuse, self harm, suicide attempts, murder, toxic relationships, injury, and classism.

Richard Papen wanted to get as far from California as he could, which was basically his only reason for choosing to attend Hampden College in Vermont - that and the fact that he got in with financial aid assistance. Once in Vermont, he begins to study with the illustrious and very discerning classics professor, Julian Morrow, becoming a part of Julian's handpicked cabal of students and growing more isolated from the rest of the student body. Yet, Richard is not quite initiated into the classics students clique either. There is always something keeping him just outside of their circle. When they finally begin to let Richard in, he discovers that the rumors about the group of friends are not as outlandish as he once believed and he wonders if fighting to be included was a mistake.

I've had The Secret History on my want to read list for quite some time, but it has been very difficult to obtain a copy of the book. I finally found a (far from perfect) version of the audiobook, but I think it was good enough. This story was very interesting. It went down a path that I really never expected. The characters were stuck up, moody, and quite pretentious, but I still liked them for the most part. The writing was very good and funny in a tongue in cheek kind of way. The author is not the most obvious, but I'm always asking authors to be more subtle, so I rather enjoyed that. Donna Tartt did a great job of layering her characters and making you feel, much like Richard, that you know them while not quite knowing them. Julian gave me the creeps the entire book, for no real reason at all. She has a way of turning up the suspense in a way that you almost don't realize it's happening. That being said, I thought the middle was slow and a bit boring, and when the suspense did get turned up, it was not in the fun "tingles on the back of my neck" way, but in the "I have a permanent stomachache" way. Many people have compared this book to If We Were Villians by M L Rio, saying the Rio must have read The Secret History because the two are so similar. While I do see the similarities, there is one very big item that is pivotal to the plot that is different, which I think makes a lot of difference. In addition, I think there are enough differences to make both books enjoyable if you put some time in between reading them both. And honestly, I think that the setting of If We Were Villains was better and it was more fun to read overall.

I'm giving The Secret History 4 stars out of 5. I did like it, but I enjoyed it less that I thought I would.

Pairs well with something called wacky cake and not hiking alone.

My favorite quotes:

"...as heedless of me as ghosts in their shadowy rounds are said to be heedless of the living."

"...where his enemies have still not managed to supplant him."