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miimkkaaa's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
srudick's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
aimeedobson01's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
rach88's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
renikapriya's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This was a unique story. I felt like I was reading The Great Gatsby. I'm not sure what the hype was, it was a struggle to finish.
shelbyshelbxo's review against another edition
5.0
I’m revising my rating of this book from 4 stars to 5 after rereading and annotating it. This book is brilliant. It has demanded my attention for weeks after finishing it. I wish I could go back in time and read it for the first time again.
The characters, the story, the atmosphere, the mood, the suspense. It. is. just. brilliant.
On the first read, I was underwhelmed with the prologue. But after revisiting it, I feel like it wrapped everything up well.
Donna Tartt is a major talent. This book is definitely a modern day classic, and, in my opinion, lives up to its hype. It is just stunning.
The characters, the story, the atmosphere, the mood, the suspense. It. is. just. brilliant.
On the first read, I was underwhelmed with the prologue. But after revisiting it, I feel like it wrapped everything up well.
Donna Tartt is a major talent. This book is definitely a modern day classic, and, in my opinion, lives up to its hype. It is just stunning.
werona_inc's review against another edition
5.0
It's almost two weeks since I finished The Secret History. I've tried to distract myself, to not think of it, to move on – it doesnt work and I still can't leave this book behind. So I feel obliged to talk about it.
People love to call The Secret History different names – Modern Greek Tragedy, Future Classic, The Mother of Dark Academia – I do agree with all given titles. However, I am also convinced that not all people will find this book so mind-wrenching, so life-changing, so familiar yet so new, so contradictory in its meaningness, characters, plot and narration, as I believe this book appears to myself.
The Secret History tells you many stories which are combined in the end of the book into one big tale about everything that had and hadn't been said, everything that had and hadn't been done by main characters, each obsessed with their own ideas: to fit in the idealistic fantasy you made up for yourself or to know the pleasure of Bacchanalia, etc. And the simplest thing you can do is to stay with characters, until the grand finale, to witness the outcome of the question “Will their ideas, obsessions and choices eat them alive?”
Characters.
Six main characters are not supposed to be likable, they are people with grey morals, who did terrible things and “feel bad for murdering people, but not too bad to go to jail for that” – this is exactly why I find them fascinating even in their wrongs. Unlikable characters are complicated, they have many layers and often you cannot completely figure them out until the last chapters. Of course, our unreliable narrator, who was confused at some times, at some drunk or high, at some sleep-deprived helps by walking us through the plot, but we cannot fully trust everything he tells us, as he tends to miss, overlook or ignore some things about his new classmates.
As characters try to cope with the consequences, the world and each other, without losing their sanity, you start to get to know them better. You sympathize with them, they mesmerize you, you want to be like or/and with them, you are sick and tired of them, you don't know what to think – it doesn't matter what you thought about them during reading, when the story ends you miss them.
My favorite is definitely Francis, I also like Richard, Henry and Camilla, although they all are well-written. I can write a 10 page essay on each of the characters, so I will not talk about them in detail.
So, The Secret History is the embodiment of intrusive thoughts, idyllic prejudeces, cracking fantasies, cruel misconceptions, inevitable consequences, grand choices and forced actions, as you watch desperate times call for half-desperate, half-calculated measures.
To me, this book will forever be a part of my personality, part of my existence. It's like your trauma, marks and scars – It never leaves you and will be with you, crawled into your mind and body, till the day you die. Not to say that I have something against the idea.
People love to call The Secret History different names – Modern Greek Tragedy, Future Classic, The Mother of Dark Academia – I do agree with all given titles. However, I am also convinced that not all people will find this book so mind-wrenching, so life-changing, so familiar yet so new, so contradictory in its meaningness, characters, plot and narration, as I believe this book appears to myself.
The Secret History tells you many stories which are combined in the end of the book into one big tale about everything that had and hadn't been said, everything that had and hadn't been done by main characters, each obsessed with their own ideas: to fit in the idealistic fantasy you made up for yourself or to know the pleasure of Bacchanalia, etc. And the simplest thing you can do is to stay with characters, until the grand finale, to witness the outcome of the question “Will their ideas, obsessions and choices eat them alive?”
Characters.
Six main characters are not supposed to be likable, they are people with grey morals, who did terrible things and “feel bad for murdering people, but not too bad to go to jail for that” – this is exactly why I find them fascinating even in their wrongs. Unlikable characters are complicated, they have many layers and often you cannot completely figure them out until the last chapters. Of course, our unreliable narrator, who was confused at some times, at some drunk or high, at some sleep-deprived helps by walking us through the plot, but we cannot fully trust everything he tells us, as he tends to miss, overlook or ignore some things about his new classmates.
As characters try to cope with the consequences, the world and each other, without losing their sanity, you start to get to know them better. You sympathize with them, they mesmerize you, you want to be like or/and with them, you are sick and tired of them, you don't know what to think – it doesn't matter what you thought about them during reading, when the story ends you miss them.
My favorite is definitely Francis, I also like Richard, Henry and Camilla, although they all are well-written. I can write a 10 page essay on each of the characters, so I will not talk about them in detail.
So, The Secret History is the embodiment of intrusive thoughts, idyllic prejudeces, cracking fantasies, cruel misconceptions, inevitable consequences, grand choices and forced actions, as you watch desperate times call for half-desperate, half-calculated measures.
To me, this book will forever be a part of my personality, part of my existence. It's like your trauma, marks and scars – It never leaves you and will be with you, crawled into your mind and body, till the day you die. Not to say that I have something against the idea.
aarnireads's review against another edition
it is so pretentious and so extra i want to set it on fire. i just don't have the patience for this. maybe i'll try out the finnish translation at some point, to make the more harder-to-understand english passages easier... but idk. life's too short for books that don't set _you_ on fire from the inside out.
lindseytlmn's review against another edition
2.0
Only 15 percent and I DNFed this. Half the time, it felt like they were just rambling non-sense which wasn’t fun. The plot was so slow, all it was from what I had read, was: Richard (MC) kinda poor goes to a college and joins a “Greek” class. Him and the “pupils” talk about Greek history/writing . Then they went to a vacation house owned by Francis and basically just drank all throughout the days. I find that the characters don’t have much personality which can lead to the story being boring. While reading I truly felt smarter and like I was better than everyone. Which was a nice feeling but even so I cannot continue this book especially when there are only 8 chapters in a 500 page book. That really irks me.