The Secret History - Donna Tartt Reviews

This novel is many things. Most simply, it is a character-driven murder, mystery and suspense story. It has a spell like a university-set Great Gatsby, making it hard to define a lot of the substance that makes it such a rich and haunting apparition. Its characters drift in the subconscious of inspired yet searching students. You cannot be too ...  Read the complete review

The Secret History, a muder-mystery in reverse, centers on a group of classics students and the stranger they let into their ranks - Richard Papen - a young man with a flaw which is this: 'the appreciation of beauty at any cost'. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, yet I haven't met anyone who hasn't been swept up by Richard's own apprecation of ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

I picked up this book quite expecting to hate it. The initial massive hype over its publication had convinced me that it couldn’t possibly be any good. While the story-line (homicidal Classics students at a New England college) seemed irritating in the extreme. So when I finally did get round to reading it I was perversely hoping it was ...  Read the complete review

An even bigger mystery than that which is contained in this fabulous book is where Donna Tartt went. Having read the book, I was absolutely gripped and desperate to read another book by her: but no, I haven't heard of her since. Has she written anything else? Anyway, this book is a quiet but devastating thriller, the story of a ...  Read the complete review

What?s a little murder between good friends? This is the question Tartt asks in this gripping and well-written tale of loyalty, love, friendship and death. Richard Papen is a 28-year-old from Plano, California. He longs to get away from the boredom of small town life, and decides on a whim to apply for a place at an elite American ...  Read the complete review

The story of a boy who leaves his native California and his gas-station owner parents to study at an ivy-league type college in New England. His specialism is Classics, his fellow students a close knit group from priviledged backgrounds, and he takes a while to find his feet. The further he is accepted into their clique, the more he finds out ...  Read the complete review

'The Secret History' is a long novel set in an elite American private school, and focuses on a small, bright but highly obsessive group of students studying classics. A new student (the narrator - the book is written in the first person) arrives and is apparently accepted by the other members of the class. Not all is as it seems however, ...  Read the complete review