The Secret History - Donna Tartt

This happened one summer day a year ago. I was immersed in reading a book in a half-empty subway car, when out of the corner of my eye I saw an elderly man with blood on his bearded face and shirtfront shuffle in. He was of a sturdy build, but overweight. There was not a trace on his knuckles: it was clear that he had been beaten up. I put down the book immediately as the man took a seat next to me, shoulder-to-shoulder. I was so shell-shocked and confused that I could not speak for quite a while. Finally I asked him: "May I do something for you?" He declined and thanked me for the solicitude. Facing us, there was a couple - a man and a woman in their ...

The secret History is Donna Tartt’s first novel. Since its publication in 1993 it has become a best seller and it has been critically acclaimed, it even made it in to the top 100 in the recent ‘A good read ‘BBC list. So is it a great book? No. Let me explain why. THE STORY A young Californian student Richard Papen frustrated at home gets a scholarship to study at Hampden College in an isolated part of Vermont in the North East of the US. Having already an interest in languages, especially Greek, he decides to enlist for a classics course run by the famous but rather mysterious academic Julian Morrow. This is not as easy as he at first ...

Sometimes the thing that bounds friends together is the fragility of the relationship. The fact that you probably will fall out, grow apart or find new interests. Sadly most friendships are like that, to use the well quoted maxim, 'Some friends are for a reason and some are for a season'. But what if, in your youth you makes some friends and you think that they will be your friends forever. Not because of any bond or closeness, but because together you have done something so scary that you must stay close. So, the tale. Poor boy Richard from California gets a scholarship to an east coast university. The family relationship is poor, and not very well ...