THE SECRET HISTORY BY DONNA TARTT | BOOK REVIEW | FEBRUARY 2018

THE SECRET HISTORY BY DONNA TARTT | BOOK REVIEW | FEBRUARY 2018 

I wasn't sure what I would think about it, and having finished it I still am unsure. Is that slightly juxtaposed? Sometimes I read books that I pick up on a whim and I get nothing out of reading it. Absolutely nothing. The writing was phenomenal, don't get me wrong but it didn't leave me with anything, and I think that you should always get something from a book, whether its negative or positive.
I had heard a lot of good things about Donna Tartt, especially about The Goldfinch (so you'd think I'd read The Goldfinch, but my brain doesn't work like that). I was intrigued by the blurb, where essentially it follows a group of students in an American college and inevitably there's a twist that will result in them questioning their morality. The book follows Richard Papen; he is the odd-one-out from the group, he has no relationship with his family, he is rather a solitary character, the only passion and connection with anything he has is his education. He falls in with the elite group of students that study Classics at Hampden College, New England. The group are written as separate from the rest of the student body, and eventually you're taken away in to the weird and disturbing world of each member. They each have their own quirks and misfits through the abuse of drugs, alcohol. Externally there would be nothing that would have bound these people together; they are nothing alike, and its evident that some members don't like others for some reason, so why are they friends? Tartt had the underlying thread of Greek myth and literature that strings them all together; they are all passionate about it. Throughout the novel though, even though the novel is first person in the personal narrative of Richard; you never get a description of him and theres a focus more on the other characters through Richard's perceptions. Richard's a people pleaser, he makes all the people in the group like him but he hasn't really got a relevance in the group, he's more like an outsider sitting in an AA  group, but he has no meaning of being there.
The murder twist of the Greek religious ceremony exposes the psychopathic tendencies of some of the characters and reality and guilt. Richard is whole heartedly innocent in this scheme, he is effectively is following the crowd like a lost sheep in a determined flock. But he involves himself more and more in their group, especially when they murder Bunny. What I did enjoy is that Tartt makes the relationship between the other characters change so indefinitely when the murder happened that she shows how human minds work in terms of facing up to the consequences of their actions. All of  their secrets are peeled away once one thing happens, like a wall of dominoes being flicked over. They show little to no remorse, but ultimately their mental health is in tatters, and characters are on the brink of a breakdown; physically and mentally.

Tartt focuses on issues indirectly, such has remorse, guilt, reality, murder and death showing the full extent to what happens when you murder someone; you result in the suffocation of selfishness and wanting everything to go you way, even when you know you probably should be the one that's dead or in prison. I particularly find interesting how Tartt makes the readers think about the guilt and behaviour of those who have killed, and their actions after. The community of a small town in New England, Papen's description of the area makes it sound suffocating especially as he's keeping a secret and there's FBI and state police everywhere. Overall I remain quite unsatisfied with this book. It was a good read I enjoyed the misfit group of students that don't really get along, and the structure of the novel. For me, there wasn't enough adventure in it, I suppose I'm preferred to novels where the characters move countries or areas; where as The Secret History is focused in New England, but that's where the beauty of it is; a relationship within the characters and the obscurity of the area and the claustrophobic effect of the novel always staying stagnant within the same area, for most of the novel. 
If you like a meaningful novel, with characters that are slightly obscure and are genuinely misfits of society. The story does focus for me a character that is more relatable, as I am a teenager and can relate to the dreams of getting away from your parents, but also the loneliness and vulnerability that he faces. 

Obviously my opinion is one out of millions, and it happens to me that I would rate it 3 out of 5. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, but it's something different that I've read, and I know  now that delving in to other genres can easily be disappointing but also a real positive surprise sometimes. 

Happy Reading 
Rose x