The entire book is both poetic and haunting.
The Secret History is a phenomenal novel. It is macabre and fascinating, exploring themes of elitism, moral decay and obsession.
Donna Tartt creates a high level of intrigue from the very first sentence: “The snow on the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.”
For me, the novel deserves a five-star rating due to the immersive atmosphere Tartt creates, perfectly captured by the term “dark academia”.
The story itself kept me hooked throughout, despite the slow pace of the plot. We follow our protagonist, Richard Papen, a new transfer student at Hampton College, who becomes mesmerised by a group of wealthy and eccentric students, studying ancient Greek and classical literature. As readers, we are made aware of the death of one of these students, Edmund “Bunny” Corcoran, right in the prologue, providing us with an inverted mystery – we know the victim but we are unaware of the “why” and “how”.
Tartt does not shy away from revealing the bitterness of the world in her novel, acknowledging that beauty is many things: “terror”, “harsh” and even “superficial”. She utilises each of the characters by giving them an unappealing fatal flaw as well as a deep-rooted fear for their futures post-university. Each of them responds differently to this fear, ranging from ignoring it quietly, with a book and a cup of tea, or by indulging in drink and drugs. We see the psychological descent of the characters as the story progresses, leading up to and following Bunny’s death.
The entire book is both poetic and haunting, teaching us that “any action in the fullness of time sinks to nothingness”.
I know that The Secret History will stay with me for a long time and I would not be surprised if in 50 years it is considered to be a classic.
