The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Review by Rebecca (rocky1)
The Secret History was author Donna Tartt’s first novel. Nearly two decades later, it remains a superb, cautionary coming-of-age tale.
Set in the 1980s, college student Richard Papen is disillusioned with his life, which seems to go nowhere. A former pre-med student who falls in love with the Greek language, Richard leaves his unhappy existence in central California to transfer to prestigious Hampden College in Vermont.
Once there, he becomes enamored with a group of students studying the Classics. Their air of superiority and mysteriousness to everyone else at the school intrigues him. Richard manages to weasel himself into their group, and come under the tutelage of their equally mystifying teacher, Julian Morrow.
Now, as one of the students, Richard is privy to an event they partake in that changes their lives-forever. And try as much as he would, he finds he cannot turn back the clock and escape to the lazy college days they once shared together.
Tartt does an excellent job of capturing Richard’s feelings: his distaste for his hometown of Plano, California, his broken relationship with his father (and thus likewise desire for Julian to act as his father figure), his friendships with his classmates, desire of love and acceptance of Camilla that is sadly, never returned, and the scenery and life of rural Vermont.
The characters of his professor and classmates Henry, Bunny, Francis, and twins Charles and Camilla, are fleshed out and they thoroughly have their own personalities. One comes to regard them as real flesh and blood beings, which furthered my own appreciation of the story. They are wealthy, educated and disdainful of almost everyone else at the school. Consequently, some individuals may complain that Richard is too bland, not an interesting or exciting enough character, but here I disagree: I think of his classmates as the interesting people we (himself included) all wish we could be, but I think of Richard as the wonderfully realistic everyman (what most of us really are).
The Secret History may seem like a daunting read because it discusses ancient Greek and the Classics. However, I personally found the stories and information given in the book as interesting and piqued my interest in all things Greek. No prior knowledge is needed to enjoy the setting in which Richard and his classmates develop their well-thought out (and often pretentious) plans.
The climax of the story occurs in the middle-at this point Book I ends and Book II begins. This may seem rather long and drawn out, but slowly we see the sad downfall of our remaining group of scholars-and how it creates a long lasting effect on Richard’s life that he will never forget.
Great Review Rebecca! I am adding this to my Reminder List.