or 'The Secret History' in particular (Donna Tartt in general)

Member Name: flatshandy

Product:	Donna Tartt in general
Date:	04/11/02 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Long but not bloated for the sake of it, Well written and plotted

Disadvantages: Long!, New book only available in hardback

Donna Tartt is such a great name for an author. About the time that the Secret History came out I decided I would ignore it, because I have a horror of people failing to live up to their hype. In one way and another I ignored it so much that I forgot about it entirely until her latest book came out. There's been a lot of speculation as to why it took her ten years to write her second novel - could it be that she just wanted it to be good? Or judged more on it's own merits and not in comparison with her first book?

So, I finally bought a copy in paperback on Friday, and finished it on Sunday. This is the kind of reading speed I had as a child. Bear in mind that the book is over 600 pages long, and is certainly not in the chick-lit genre (where you can skip half of every page and not miss much at all). In short - I simply couldn't put it down.

There is a saying that if you're writing a story then you have to 'turn the engine on' to make the reader want to turn the pages. Good writers rev up after a couple of pages. Some writers never find the keys. Tartt came around the corner at 60 miles an hour and picked me up without stopping.

But the story - what's the story? There's a murder, but from the off you know whodunit (sort of) so it's really more of a whydunit. The characters and the setting are not overly american which helps to close the gap for a british audience, but she depicts everything so well, without over fussiness, that you can't help but be drawn into the world. In spite of all the hype, she is not the sort of writer who writes over your head. I never once felt patronised, or lost, or that she was using big words to make herself sound clever. It's just not like that.

If you think this is not really the sort of thing you would read, then I'd recommend you give it a go. Read the prologue in a bookshop, and see whether or not you can leave the shop without it.

Summary: