Just a girl obsessed with books and movies sharing her thoughts.

This book is a blessing and a curse. A curse mostly because it’s the kind of book that makes you have trouble to immerse in the next book you’re going to read. The fear that no book will ever top this one.

Trang for Bookidote

Such a ferocious well-paced entertainment but also a true accolade of a modern classic. It has the all time academia on the campus worldbuilding, a slowly built suspense around an elite group of Ancient Greeks students.

I’ve been trying to find the Secret itself to this book, what makes this book so good? So compelling that when I finish it, I just want Donna Tartt to continue the book. I didn’t want to leave the book alone. I want to reread it all over again. The plot by itself is a masterpiece, the narrative choice carrying the whole book between quarelling in Ancient Greek to a subtle humor.

Trang for Bookidote

There are way too many themes to be discussed on this blog post alone, but I want to mention my favourite theme of all : self-destruction but all for the sake of intellect. And that’s what’s interesting, finally a book that follows through as a criticism of the rationale, the intellectual and what would it takes and how much one wants to destroy oneself. The loss of control, a Greek concept that is both beauty and terror: A Bacchanal, Dionysian rite.

The journey of reading The Secret History, I couldn’t help but wish to be part of their conversations, arguing about philosophy and the classics. It’s a longing feeling that like Richard, we feel like Outsiders.

Trang for Bookidote

RATING: 5/5

Advertisement

4 responses to “The Secret History : Book Review”

  1. September Wrap-Up – The Character Study Avatar

    […] Trang @ Bookidote reviewed The Secret History and I could really relate to some of her thoughts on it. […]

    Like

  2. Nancy Avatar

    I loved this book when I first read it as a college student, as I could connect with the characters and found it moody and atmospheric. A more recent reading was a let-down as I found everyone so decadent and selfish. But nevertheless, I enjoy Tartt’s writing and wish she put out more than one novel a decade.

    Like

  3. Forest Thoughts Avatar

    Loved this review ❤ and beautiful photos!!! I just posted some of my thoughts about it on my page if you want to check it out too 🙂

    Like

  4. TOP 5 Books I read in 2021 – Bookidote Avatar

    […] I’m sorry but this book completely DESTROYED me. Once I finished this book, it’s the fear that no other book will be able top it. And I was right. I finish my year and it still remains the best book experience I ever had. Complex characters, the details in the emotion, the Greek Ancient tragedies reference but blending in an acessible way that readers do not get confused. Instead, we feel like part of the group. That elite group of students who get to study Greek all year long. For fans of dark academia and greek litterature. You can read my full book review here. […]

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: