The Secret History 1992
By Donna Tartt
- Fiction, College students, Teacher-student relationships, Classicists
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last - inexorably - into evil.
FictionCollege studentsTeacher-student relationshipsClassicistsMurderMurderersDetective and mystery storiesFiction, psychologicalCollege teachers, fictionVermont, fictionAmerican literatureRichard Papen (Fictitious character)
- Bleak ending
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Three questions people argue about. Answer first, then see how your circle and the community split.
Would The Secret History hit harder if it came out today rather than in 1992?
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Is this Donna Tartt's best work?
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Is it the best fiction book of its decade?
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Answered from the reviews and content notes on file, never made up. If nothing on file settles it, it says so.
Character
Grave, earnest, bleak and intimate.
- gravecomic
- earnestironic
- warmbleak
- intimateepic
- cooloverwhelming
Who loves it, who doesn't
11 profiled raters. Loved most by The Empaths.
Reviews
We read them all: the case against is yuki.reads's. Marked below.
- yuki.readsThe case againstThe Empath★★★★½
Overlong in the middle and I did not care.(1 spoiler sentence hidden; tap to read)
- amara.readsThe Empath★★★★
Tartt writes sentences like a person who has read Greek and wants you to know. It is a great pleasure and a slightly lesser book than its reputation.
Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
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