Halfway Review: The Secret History by, Donna Tartt

 

The Secret History (TSH) is a cult classic. People rave about this dark academia novel, to whichI frequently raised an eyebrow wondering, “Is it really that good?” This review is only covering the first half and I’ll go over the second half and the novel as a whole in about a week’s time. 

What a unique piece of literature! I can see why it has such a following. Set in Vermont at a prestigious, fictional university, Hampden College, the reader becomes engrossed in this microcosm of 6 students, Ancient Greece and Rome, and a murder. 

TSH begins by telling the reader that 1 of the 6 main characters was murdered. What the reader is on the path to discover is “Why.” Tartt expertly gives the reader so many clues, some rather blatant, that it actually seems subtle; she’s hiding the truth in plain sight. This novel is packed with so much symbolism and imagery that it’s impossible to catch everything. 

“..a web of symbol, coincidence, premonition, omen. Everything, somehow, fit together; some sly and benevolent Providence was revealing itself by degrees and I felt myself trembling on the brink of a fabulous discovery, as though any morning it as all going to come together - my future, my past, the whole of my life - and I was going to sit up in bed like a thunderbolt and say oh! oh!”

If you have a background in ancient classical literature, you’ll really appreciate this novel; it’s packed with so many references to Ancient Greek and Roman texts, with the characters throwing in a bit of Latin, amongst their conversations. Is it a bit pretentious? Yes, but that’s the point. One gets the impression of reading a modern Greek tragedy, comedy and satire all in one. 

TSH can be read purely for entertainment, or one could take their time and analyze it for eternity. There is so much to pick apart; everything has meaning, every dog, reference to playing cards, crows, the weather etc. It’s almost as if the characters themselves are in a play, representing caricatures of Ancient Greek characters, at the mercy of the writer’s whims. There’s a heavy “backstage vs. onstage” theme. 

“Five minutes before Julian arrived, they might be slouched in the living room - curtains drawn, dinner simmering on the chafing dishes in the kitchen, everyone tugging at collars and dull-eyed with fatigue - but the instant the doorbell rang their spines would straighten, conversation would snap to life, the very wrinkles would fall from their clothes.”

TSH is making my miss the classes I took in Uni studying Ancient Greece and Rome and it’s whet my appetite for revisiting those texts and read others I didn’t get the chance to read. Tartt takes her time building the narrative and the atmosphere. It takes true skill to keep there reader eager for the next page, when she basically spoiled the major plot point within the first sentence. There is so much I can say about the first half of TSH alone, that there just isn’t enough space to do that. Hopefully I can get into more of the elements of the story in my final review; it’s just so rich and dense with clues that I’ve only scratched the surface. Highly enjoyable read thus far.