The Secret History by Donna Tartt (Epub)

Description

A ‘haunting, compelling, and brilliant'(The Times) novel about a group of students who, under the influence of their professor find their lives changed forever, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Goldfinch

Truly deserving of the accolade ‘modern classic’, Donna Tartt’s novel is a remarkable achievement – compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful.

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, their lives are changed profoundly and for ever as they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill.

‘A haunting, compelling, and brilliant piece of fiction … Packed with literary allusion and told with a sophistication and texture that owes much more to the nineteenth century than to the twentieth’ -The Times

User’s Reviews

From Publishers Weekly Tartt’s much bruited first novel is a huge (592 pages) rambling story that is sometimes ponderous, sometimes highly entertaining. Part psychological thriller, part chronicle of debauched, wasted youth, it suffers from a basically improbable plot, a fault Tartt often redeems through the bravado of her execution. Narrator Richard Papen comes from a lower-class family and a loveless California home to the “hermetic, overheated atmosphere” of Vermont’s Hampden College. Almost too easily, he is accepted into a clique of five socially sophisticated students who study Classics with an idiosyncratic, morally fraudulent professor. Despite their demanding curriculum (they quote Greek classics to each other at every opportunity) the friends spend most of their time drinking and taking pills. Finally they reveal to Richard that they accidentally killed a man during a bacchanalian frenzy; when one of their number seems ready to spill the secret, the group–now including Richard–must kill him, too. The best parts of the book occur after the second murder, when Tartt describes the effect of the death on a small community, the behavior of the victim’s family and the conspirators’ emotional disintegration. Here her gifts for social satire and character analysis are shown to good advantage and her writing is powerful and evocative. On the other hand, the plot’s many inconsistencies, the self-indulgent, high-flown references to classic literature and the reliance on melodrama make one wish this had been a tauter, more focused novel. In the final analysis, however, readers may enjoy the pull of a mysterious, richly detailed story told by a talented writer. 75,000 first printing; BOMC and QPB selections. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I will start by saying I loved The Goldfinch. Loved it. So, it was interesting to see how Tartt’s brilliant writing was shaped and honed during the intervening years. But that writing could not redeem such tedious and pretentious characters. None of them were genuinely interesting, or remotely believable. I went to college during the years this seems to have been set, and almost none of it rang true. NO ONE wore fancy suits around campus, even for dramatic effect or as a pretentious affectation. And I went to a massive and diverse university. The characters run around in a drug and alcohol-soaked haze. Okay, that much rang true for the late 80s/early 90s, but they were way too functional for spending so much of their time so heavily inebriated. Richard says Bunny was well liked, but he was a ridiculous caricature, and his behavior was relentlessly boorish. How charming! I dunno… I just found it impossible to suspend my disbelief, because there was no payoff for doing so. And instead of being able to relax and enjoy Tartt’s fantastic gift for writing, I was constantly brought out of the story with thoughts of “this doesn’t sound like something that could have happened!” or “I hate these people and don’t care WTF happens to any of them!” I’d say skip this one. Just read The Goldfinch. It’s worth it.

⭐ A superior and engaging work of paradigms…really a microcosm of the dispassionate elite. Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Donna Tartt offers up a unique look at a vastly disordered set of personal and moral values that become ensconced within a group of ill fitting, often puerile and misanthropic students at a prestigious Vermont college. Forming and then further refining each character (we fundamentally have six main actors outside of our narrator) to the degree that each becomes his or her own immensely flawed persona, Tartt then furthers the narrative by weaving a masterful thriller, combining intellect with meritable readability, making “The Secret History” certainly worthy of inclusion into Amazon’s 100 Books To Read in a Lifetime.Richard Papen, our narrator, is a sort of California expat, transferring to Vermont’s Hampden College from a small Northern California community college. Desperate to continue his studies in the Greek Classics, he reaches out to the only professor who teaches this curriculum at the college, one Julian Morrow, a wonderfully eccentric intellect who seemingly chooses his students with an odd personal/intellectual criteria and who then demands their complete and utter loyalty while assuming their entire syllabus and becoming their principal teacher.Initially turned away after confronting Morrow, Papen nevertheless gets accepted into the course following an encounter with the group of students in the campus library one evening. This faction (their “leader” of sorts, Henry Winter, twins Charles and Camilla Macaulay, the loud and obnoxious Edmund Bunny Corcoran and the abstract Francis Abernathy) are noted for being rather standoffish on campus, almost socially outcast while also being looked upon as offbeat and peculiar. Fitting in immediately though, Papen finds himself initially mollified with his station at the college, being invited to lunches and dinners at the twin’s apartment and spending a good deal of time on long weekends at Francis’s Vermont country estate.Soon though he witnesses the true inner workings of this group…secret conversations and side meetings are being convened most notably by Henry, which lead to one evening finding the group (minus Bunny and Richard) transformed somewhat “supernaturally” into a chemically induced awareness, attempting to achieve an ancient Greek “higher consciousness” state whereby anything becomes possible. Things, of course get out of hand and the balance of the book concerns the intrigue involved with this surprising and deviant outcome. Each character, seemingly already heavily developed, suddenly becomes not as previously thought…Tartt is exquisite here with the demanding role of emotional roller-coaster for each persona, giving additional depth and believability to each. All of our actors undergo severe and manifest transformations with the result, at times, being rather shocking.A work that requires a commitment (559 pages in paperback form) but is nonetheless rewarding, “The Secret History” was Donna Tartt’s literary masterstroke prior to her Pulitzer winning “The Goldfinch.” A beautiful combination of intellect and rarefied mystery, this book will have you turning the pages and contemplating not only the human condition but those rare circumstances where one becomes thrust into and must immediately consider one’s actions. I thought this a brilliant vehicle for introspection and examination into one’s own personal character and I believe many readers will come away with the same thoughts.

⭐ This won’t be one of my typical 3-star reviews. To start, the writing is gorgeous and so dreamy. None of the scenes seem fully grounded, kind of as if Tartt is guiding the reader through the confusing haze Richard remembers of his college years. A California boy with dreams of studying ancient Greek, Richard goes to Hampden College in New England and it’s all Greek to him until his entire friend group slowly starts unraveling.I love that the book opens with a murder because Richard starts off as a bit of a Holden Caulfield and the first half of the book just drags. None of the characters were remotely likable and, in the strangest way, I feel like I had met them all in college. They were pretentious and hyper-intellectual, but overall disasters. The poor pacing gives this first half 2 stars out of five.Then the second half starts and my enjoyment sky-rocketed. The characters don’t get any more likable, but at least they get interesting. The entire fabric of Richard’s reality starts falling apart. Secrets pop up and each influence in his life develops several extra dimensions. I particularly am fascinated by the charismatic Henry and the cowardly Francis. They were so fleshed out, even though Henry only allowed small glimpses of their true personalities.One of my biggest complaints was the sense of pacing. Sequences that lasted weeks, took a matter of paragraphs while entire hours lasted for pages. I kind of got the effect of adding tension in that way, but it wasn’t for me.Ultimately, some really devious characters and interesting exploration on the effect trauma has on people’s perception. I’m not sure this book was for me, but I am glad I read it.

⭐ This is the worst book I’ve had the misfortune to read in 2020. I was recommended this by a coworker as a virtual book exchange and understand why some hobby readers would find this book “deep” or “engaging” with some sense of inflated self that they’ve just conquered a tough book.This book is pretentious. It has the pretense of depth. The Greek classes are window dressing, the teacher Julian is never seen, the main character is a paper thin fly on the wall, classic works of literature are referenced CONSTANTLY without context or follow up – leading the keen reader to recognize that the author has never read many of the works cited as appeals to authority and window dressing. Surely if Miss Tartt name drops Dostoyevsky this makes her Dostoyevsky.This book is chock full of something I’d like to call “purple exposition” where scenes are explained rather than written, and characters are described in excruciating detail rather than given voice and personality. Donna is a BAD WRITTER. On page 400+, the reader is still being lectured about the Kennedy-like bearing of so and so flavorless morally relativistic character. Dresses are described intimately on mannequin doll characters who wander around back stabbing each other and doing every drug from meth to speed. This book is Donna’s barbie doll house.Donna Tartt has a poor understanding of the subjects she seeks to write about — EXCEPT for cocaine use and getting drunk and the occasional book reference which evidences some familiarity. Scenes at parties take on the most engaging prose in the novel even though she’s unable to grasp male sexuality. Speaking as a horny straight guy, Donna is wide of the mark on the way even the dippiest nerd losers / socio-psychopathic people conceptualize lust in practical terms. If your emotional spectrum is rage and lust (psychopath) and you feel nothing about killing people, then describing the brand of dress, cut, fabric, and sinews of a thigh ain’t it chief.The criticism of “elite” culture ends up being a criticism of Donna Tartt for being such a piggish southern simpleton to think that she’s “penetrated” the veil of the actual sins and avarice of scholarly elite. Least not in dead languages among the humanities.And just for good measure, Miss Tartt has peppered in incest, woman abuse which is also fraternal abuse, and drunken homosexuality — all with no furtherance of the plot. It’s not sophisticated, it’s not funny, it doesn’t help the plot, and says a lot about the decline of societal standards of excellence that this book is held in such high regard.0/5 if I could adjust the stars lower.I recommended my coworker read another author’s first novel. The Instructions by Adam Levin. I’m a Slav Christian, don’t let the Jewish veneer scare you off. A much better use of your time.

⭐ This is probably my third copy of this book that I’ve purchased since it was originally released. Donna Tartt is far and away one of my all-time favorite authors. Her writing is beautiful and captivating and this book enthralls. Truthfully all of them do, but this was the first one and holds a special place. I’m waiting for the movie version. Of course, seldom, some may say never, has a movie version captured the essence of a book well. There are a few examples but I’m willing to be slightly disappointed in an attempt by someone. 🙂 Capturing the characters, so perfectly drawn and brought to life by Tartt would be lovely to see on the big screen. All in all, if you haven’t read The Secret History, you’re truly missing some beautiful wondrous writing.

⭐ Donna Tartt has quickly become one of my all time favorite authors. I first read The Goldfinch about a year ago, and absolutely loved it. I just got done with The Secret History and was even more impressed by this book. I am not a scholar, and I did not understand the occasional piece of dialogue written in Greek or Latin, however, that does not distract from the story in any way. Some of it you could figure out based on the context. Tartt has an amazing ability to develop her characters into such complex and interesting people and by the end of the book you feel that you know them on a personal level.The storyline is intriguing and suspenseful. Her writing offers the perfect amount of description without making the pace of the book seem slow. This book was very hard to put down once I started it, as was the case with her first book I read. Her writing style is different, in such a wonderful way, from the popular authors of today. I cannot wait to devour the next book of hers, which sadly, is the last of the 3 novels she has written. She seems to space out her books about every 10 years (Goldfinch was published in 2013) so, sadly, it looks like we may be waiting a while until her next book…

⭐ This is one of the most overrated novels that I have ever read. It seems the author started out with an idea (what if some college friends killed someone?) and then just wrote a bunch of “stuff” to go around it. The novel seemed to have no direction; it never “moved” towards anything. My advice? Pick a different book to read, this one was a huge waste of time.

⭐ I would rate the author’s writing more highly but the books starts off so slow (and continues to be so dry and so slow for so much of this very long book) that about 1/3 of my book club decided not to finish it and gave up less than halfway through. I can’t blame any of them. If I hadn’t been pushing myself to finish it for book club, I would have abandoned it, too. I read a review somewhere that most of the book reads like you’re overhearing a bunch of nerds trying to one-up each other with Classics references. That is an accurate description. I would also say it’s a book that really makes you think about education, formal and informal, in a very profound way. And will leave you contemplating the ripple effects that certain experiences or people can have in your life long after you’ve finished the book.

⭐ Loved The Gold Finch and thought this would be good….. it’s terrible. It’s long because it rambles about nothing. The characters are annoying. The writing does not make any sense, is it the 1960’s with the way these annoying kids talk, dress, are always putting kettles on for tea and switch board operators taking phone messages? No, it’s supposed to be early 90’s. I don’t know how this book got such high reviews because it is a complete waste of time.

⭐ I bought this brand new with Amazon Prime shipping and I can’t even complain to them, I can only invoice a return statement. The cover isn’t even glued onto the pages, didn’t even have to pry it off, it just came like that. I really want to have a nice book in my possession, so hopefully this review will get me enough attention to Amazon that I just want this item replaced. I’m sure that it’s just a fluke of an item, but I wish that I could just ask them directly for a replacement instead of writing this review.

Keywords

Free Download The Secret History in Epub format
The Secret History Epub Free Download
Download The Secret History 2013 Epub Free
The Secret History 2013 Epub Free Download
Download The Secret History Epub
Free Download Ebook The Secret History