The Secret History By Donna Tartt
By Donna Tartt
Richard Papen arrives at a small Vermont college after a couple years of previous higher education and decides to major in the Classics. The professor in charge of the department insists on a small class size and has certain requirements Richard wouldn't meet to be included. But Richard is cunning and a liar when it suits him, and finds his way into the program. He finds there and clever and eccentric group of misfit students, some rich, some pretending, all with their own foibles.
Unbeknownst to Richard, most of the others dabble in the occult as a part of their thirst for knowledge, which leads to an unintended murder. When another student finds out about it and uses it as leverage to get them to spend lavishly on him, they decide to take matters into their own hands and make him disappear. To do this, they bring Richard into the fold and come clean about what they've done. Richard, finding he wants badly to belong to this group, agrees to help them. After this breach of morality, they all come apart, corrupting and betraying one another until a final horrible act tears them apart for good.
This was another tension-filled, suspenseful, page turner. The pacing in The Secret History was mostly spot on, with a couple of sections that were too slow and tedious. The 6 main characters were complex and compelling, their actions and motivations distinct, the intertwining of relationships well thought out. It is a literary thriller in the dark academia vein which I'm finding I really enjoy. This is a strong 4 star novel. Tartt is an excellent writer, her prose is easy to follow yet woven with such intense imagery and beautiful descriptions. Elegant and taut.
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