My 2023 review of The Secret History by Donna Tartt. WHERE TO FIND ME: Website: www.joshuaclarke-kelsall.com/ Twitter: / clarkekelsall / joshua-clarke-kelsall Reddit: / jjckelsall
Excellent commentary on one of my favorite books. The sudden revelation of the joy which has come from being suddenly emerged into a society that cherishes deep learning, sweeps Richard along into the enticing maelstrom. Gifted students often undergo a wonderful and awful happiness when they enter residence at a university. They become bedazzled and can become disciples of the charismatic great minds they have now first encountered. How strange and wonderful it all seems compared to their mundane life before when they themselves were unpopular because of their intelligence. Now they feel for the first time that they may come to truly belong in a community composed of individuals who at least somewhat resemble themselves.
I thought it dragged a bit in the middle . But besides the pacing issue i enjoyed the darknacademia settting, it felt kind of cosy especially when Richard is on campus.
I agree with you there. That it is split into two parts of almost equal length makes me wonder if she felt like the second half had to be the same length as the first and so padded it out a bit...
one of my favorite books that my older sister recommended to me. She always had the best recommendations. It sat with me all these years mainly because I was very very very poor during college in the U.S. and was always eating plain white rice with Sriracha and living homeless at times in the springs and falls by hammocking to save money. So I definitely Identified with the character that wasn't as posh or rich as the other people in the book because I didn't know what a life of excess was even like but I did envy it.
Interesting take. You're right about not liking Bunny and how the novel was set up to not like him, but upon further reflexion and/or rereads, there's a lot we don't know. The scales fell continously from Richard's eyes regarding what he knew about the group as a whole and each member individually, which leads me to think that we do not have anywhere near the whole portrait of what was going on, since we only have Richard's point of view. Bref, le narrateur peu fiable. I also enjoyed Julian's fall from grace towards the end of the novel. What a pedantic, but somewhat lovable character. It's like we know he's rotten on the inside, but we like the surface and ignore the foundation. Kind of like the Ripley novels, how we admire Tom or idealize Dickie. I'm not sure what I expected him to do upon discovery of the stationary, but I would've thought that he would be more understanding and less selfish/cowardly. But I know a person like that, so I can understand. But then again, if one is of good faith, then one has to ask himself if he would have done the same thing in Julian's place. But disappearing was pretty extreme and lâche. Anyway... I really liked the book. I hadn't heard of the "dark academia" esthetic articulated before, but I have definitely experienced it. I used to know a girl/girlfriend at university who fetishized cardigans in church-like libraries in the fall. She also majored in English/theatre. I am actually close to this esthetic, but only in the sense que je l'ai frôlé, sans que je m'y trouve complètement. I've also done that with Randian Objectivism, the goth (pseudo-)subculture and music snobbery in my twenties. In a lot of ways, this book held a mirror up to myself.
I quite liked the little bit of it that I watched. I know there were lots of changes, but I think for once they sort of worked on their own. But I didn't get very far into it, so my mind may have changed along the way!
