Review by Day
This book was a really complex one for me. I just finished Pageboy and although I really loved that book, it isn’t hard to read (in a literary way), Secret History is. So it was difficult to get into… The summary on the back also doesn’t help its case. The summary reading: “Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last—inexorably—into evil.” The last part of this summary is true: the obsessions, corruption and just plain evil is there. But if this charismatic classics professor didn’t do that much in the story. This professor is just a side character who (I must admit) does thicken the plot but in no way is it him who is the evil mastermind behind the story.
While I was reading in the wild there were also some mixed reviews about both the book and the writer. Being both ‘the best book they have ever read, to being the weirdest book they have ever read’. So it was a weird experience reading this book. It didn’t help that Secret History also has a lot of trigger warnings. From homophobia, to domestic abuse, to even incest, you’ll find it in this book. When reading I do recommend a person who you can talk to about these trigger warnings just to alleviate the stress or feelings.
One last downside I have of the book is that it goes on for way too long. After about page 400 the story is in my eyes done, time for the epilogue. This isn’t the case, the story goes on in a weird fashion of just adding random stories on top of the other. It felt like reading a soapserie and every 20 pages was a new episode.
Besides all of this, I did love the book alot! Around page 100 I couldn’t put the book away and spent multiple days just reading. What Tartt does in the first 100 pages is telingl the prequel to the story in a way of zooming in on random occasions, this makes it hard to build a connection with the main characters. When she stops doing this the story just grabs you and you keep reading. The book brings the love of Greek mythology together with a nowadays who dunnit (but then a whydunnit because who it is, is known from page one).
I give this book 3 and a half stars. This book is for people who the crime, the unknown and just a touch of weirdness.
Review by Day
This book was a really complex one for me. I just finished Pageboy and although I really loved that book, it isn’t hard to read (in a literary way), Secret History is. So it was difficult to get into… The summary on the back also doesn’t help its case. The summary reading: “Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last—inexorably—into evil.” The last part of this summary is true: the obsessions, corruption and just plain evil is there. But if this charismatic classics professor didn’t do that much in the story. This professor is just a side character who (I must admit) does thicken the plot but in no way is it him who is the evil mastermind behind the story.
While I was reading in the wild there were also some mixed reviews about both the book and the writer. Being both ‘the best book they have ever read, to being the weirdest book they have ever read’. So it was a weird experience reading this book. It didn’t help that Secret History also has a lot of trigger warnings. From homophobia, to domestic abuse, to even incest, you’ll find it in this book. When reading I do recommend a person who you can talk to about these trigger warnings just to alleviate the stress or feelings.
One last downside I have of the book is that it goes on for way too long. After about page 400 the story is in my eyes done, time for the epilogue. This isn’t the case, the story goes on in a weird fashion of just adding random stories on top of the other. It felt like reading a soapserie and every 20 pages was a new episode.
Besides all of this, I did love the book alot! Around page 100 I couldn’t put the book away and spent multiple days just reading. What Tartt does in the first 100 pages is telingl the prequel to the story in a way of zooming in on random occasions, this makes it hard to build a connection with the main characters. When she stops doing this the story just grabs you and you keep reading. The book brings the love of Greek mythology together with a nowadays who dunnit (but then a whydunnit because who it is, is known from page one).
I give this book 3 and a half stars. This book is for people who the crime, the unknown and just a touch of weirdness.