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From the Bookshelf of Read Between the Wines…

The Secret History

Donna Tartt

Start date: July 1, 2014

Finish date: July 31, 2014

Discussion: Book Club Discussions

Why we're reading this: This book was nominated by Janice.
[close] This book was nominated by Janice.

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What Members Thought

Feb 19, 2015 Becky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: want-to-rereadrereadrereadreread, redrum, words-like-wine, bum-bum-buuuuuum-mystery, hubris

I have never read a book that so obviously thinks it’s better than it’s reader and carries on utterly unapologetically. This is demonstrated in the ennui of Richard, it is a sad but true fact in life that some people cannot appreciate the cheap things, but that doesn’t mean they cannot appreciate the simple things. Richard is this way, he enjoys the rich verbosity of the Greeks and detests drunken limericks, but can also watch the sunrise and the play of the dawning light on a woman’s eyelashes I have never read a book that so obviously thinks it’s better than it’s reader and carries on utterly unapologetically. This is demonstrated in the ennui of Richard, it is a sad but true fact in life that some people cannot appreciate the cheap things, but that doesn’t mean they cannot appreciate the simple things. Richard is this way, he enjoys the rich verbosity of the Greeks and detests drunken limericks, but can also watch the sunrise and the play of the dawning light on a woman’s eyelashes and be struck by its beauty. He loves and is appreciative in a horrified sense of the fog that settles on mountains, creating an Olympian detached feeling from the rest of the Earth, but abhors the hot, obvious, constantly lit life of California. Then there are the constant, unexplained quotes in Greek and Latin. You either know them, or you get to look them up, but the book certainly isn’t going to pause for you. Neither is the action constant in the book, you get to settle in and enjoy the ride as the sentences weave together, or you can get out of the car, but at no point is it going out of its way to make things more interesting for someone that the book things just can’t appreciate what it’s doing. …. Also I suppose by book, I mean author, and while The Goldfinch exhibited all of these traits as well (with the added sin of unnecessary and out of character exposition at the end) for some reason the Secret History to mean seems not like a book that was written, but a book that is, and so I find it hard to associate it with a creator. It’s just the way it is.

While I don’t understand having all the money in the world of our young aristocrats here, I was a Classics student, and long for the mysticism and violence inherent in Latin and Greek when you study it. Sometimes the classics seem so alive and colorful that the rest of the world turns mundane and gray. I really do get that. Paganism is just more interesting, regardless of belief, its hard not be enticed by the Mysteries, etc. I’ve never seen an author explore that feeling to such depth and it was intriguing and honest. I’ve known Julians, and I’ve actually long held that the further back in history you studfy, the more detached from the present you become, and so, murder aside, each of the students in their own way I have also known in my classes. They are not caricatures; they are representative of the people drawn to study that subject. And it is this feat that Tartt always accomplishes that puts me in awe of her. The absolutely glaring realness of the worlds that she creates. You are never more in the present, in the world than you are when Tartt subtly draws you in.

Drink the book like fine wine, let the words bubble on your tongue, and have yourself a bookish bacchanal with this one.
...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Jun 14, 2014 Keryn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics

Having skimmed through some of the goodreads reviews, i don't feel a detailed review is needed. I recommend you have a look at the review by Maggie - five things about the secret history - she has said it well. This modern classic is often mentioned in favourite book lists. To quote Maggie, 'It is something more remarkable when a book can elicit a passionate response from readers twenty years after its publication.'

I loved the campus setting, the multilingual (Greek French Latin English) writin ...more

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