REVIEW: The Secret History

A short review of The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

When I say this book is all over social media, I mean it is ALL over social media. My friend Fi suspects that this is because this book rose in popularity during the rise of the ‘dark academia’ aesthetic. And if that is really all you want then this 600+ page read will give you that. Set in a tiny university in Vermont, the novel will give you the vibes of being stuck in a dark library on a rainy day looking out the window onto auburn-colored leaves. But after that, all you get is a plot that peters out on page 300, and semi-insufferable characters that you cannot possibly root for.

Like the popular TV show, How to Get Away With Murder, The Secret History is set around a small group of young college students, chosen to be a part of an elite Greek course, taught by the elusive genius, Julian Morrow. The group of misfits spend an eerie amount of time together, and are looked upon by the rest of the school as ‘weirdos’ who don’t fit in with the crowd. But for our protagonist, student Richard Papen, all he wants is to be welcomed into this group. If this were a horror movie (and if I had liked the character of Richard) I would have been yelling at old Richard from the very beginning that this was a bad idea, that joining this group of ancient Greek-studying eccentrics would be like walking into a proverbial dark basement. But Richard manages to worm his way in, and not long after doing so, shit hits the fan.

I love the idea of this book. The feel of the fake campus of Hampden college were immaculate and so well-crafted I did feel as though I was there. In fact, I feel like I toured somewhere similar on my 2017 college trip in the northeast. The description of the outfits worn, the tweed jackets with patches and silk overcoats donned by 20-year-olds, the imagery of warm rain in melting snow against white clapboard houses with green shutters, I was imported into that world. The first two pages of the book introduce a murder, the next 300 pages take the reader back in time to describe what leads up to it. I so badly wanted this to be good, but at the end it felt like the ending to Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, trying too hard to be something interesting when really the interesting part of the story ended 300 pages ago.

If you are on a plane, looking for an easy read with excellent imagery, dark vibes, and unlikable characters, maybe this book would be for you. But maybe I wouldn’t recommend reading past page 300 or so, as it’s easy to be disappointed.

3 STARS

Where to buy online: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-secret-history/donna-tartt/9780140167771

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