Secret History

Rating:
Summary: Best book published in the nineties.
Review: Excellent. Read it

Rating:
Summary: Worse than bad
Review: This book was dreadful. Like another reviewer, I kept waiting for it to get better, for plotlines to develop, for dark and shocking revelations. In vain. I suppose I can believe this got published, but with all that acclaim and media attention? I'm missing something. For starters, I never got acclimated to the setting, which is supposed to be a contemporary Benningtonesque campus with drugs and academic pretentiousness; but stylistically it had more of an Edwardian, Brideshead Revisited feel, and the two just didn't jibe for me. Plus, ALMOST NOTHING HAPPENED. They just drank alot, got really drunk alot, called each other alot, and acted mysterious. Nothing really happened until around page 250 of this egregiously long book. Bad and brief is one thing, but bad with Tolstoyan ambitions is quite another. Save yourself time and money, don't read this book. You'll thank me later.

Rating:
Summary: Visit the torrid world of murder,sex and drugs in...VERMONT?
Review: The cover of the book, in most cases, is not flashy. The name of it is not particulary noteworthy. But, after reading this masterpiece of modern fiction, you find it difficult to believe that it is not more universally lauded! After being introduced to the characters you feel yourself being drawn into their world of intellectual precociousness. You can see yourself being woven into their lives and, consequently, into their story--one of murder and deception. However, through the beautiful prose of the main character, Richard Papen, the reader can see that the crime is not one-dimensional; but, instead, takes into account the feelings of the four other characters, who each add their own justification to the ghastly murder of one of their own, one of their "friends." After finishing this novel, you begin to crave a second and a third and a forth, detailing more of the lives of these characters. The young people you are introduced to, remorseless and beguiling as they are, will find a way into the reader's heart and mind. I challenge anybody to pick up this book and take over a week to read it. I further challenge anybody to forget it after that week is over. In this reader's opinion, THAT is the only difficulty

Rating:
Summary: The Best Novel of the 90s
Review: I've read this book over five times in the three years since I "discovered" it. There's a certain magic at work in Tartt's writing. Is she at work on another novel? Please let me know

Rating:
Summary: Appealing combination of high and low...
Review: The Secret History is a novel about the kind of people who still see themselves, in their early twenties, as highly romantic, mysterious individuals. They are a secrective group of intellectually gifted students, taking a walk on their own wild sides. What makes the book engaging is that the author buys wholly into the mystique of her characters; her zealous belief in the tragic stature of these people and events almost convinces the reader, as well. But in proslytizing for her faith, Tartt pushes the novel too close to pretentiousness and, ultimately, melodrama. Of course, that's what makes it such a page turner.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best-written, most engaging mysteries ever.
Review: Donna Tartt spent eight years writing this novel, and I'll bet you will want to finish reading it in a day or two. When you're interrupted, you will think of little else but getting back to the story. Before you've finished page two, you will know that you're reading an extraordinary work. The originality of the tale, its refreshing structure, and Tartt's splendid use of language will enthrall you.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best-written, most engaging mystery novels ever.
Review: Donna Tartt spent eight years writing this novel, and I'll bet you'll want to finish reading it in a day or two. When you're interrupted, you'll think of little else but getting back to the story. Before you've finished page two, you'll know that you're reading an extraordinary work. These predictions are only one woman's opinion, of course, but try it. The originality of the tale, its refreshing structure, and Tartt's splendid use of language are enthralling.

Rating:
Summary: Five friends, one secret, totally mesmerising!!!
Review: 1st thought-I need a book. 2nd thought-Sounds ok, the history of some girl. 3rd thought-Read the title wrong, WHAT have I bought?!! 4th thought... no time for thinking, just keep turning the pages, swallowed in by the experience. This book will have you compiling a list of people to recommend it to BEFORE you've finished. The end just blows you away... still reeling you reach for the phone to spread the news. Ignore this and its your loss. You'll never know just how much your missing out.....

Rating:
Summary: A mystery that actually reads like literature ...
Review: Donna Tartt's debut novel, The Secret History, successfully blends the unlikely -- page-turning mystery and contemporary literature. Revolving around a group of select students attending the Greek language course of an enigmatic professor, The Secret History explores just how far friends will go to protect each other ... and themselves

Rating:
Summary: My Personal Favorite
Review: I actually found this novel laying on the side of the road at summer camp about seven years ago and started reading it on a whim. It must have been fate because i believe this to be the finest novel i've read, and i read a lot. Everything about it is brilliant, especially the eerie calm that seeems to surround everything-from the characters, to the campus-even the college party scenes seem strangely calm and distant-proving further that the group really is seperate from the rest of the college community. i love the plot, i love the weird, quirky, of-another-era characters, i love the prose. i reccomend it highly.