Rating: 5/5 Sacrificed Bunnies
Favorite Quote: “Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly for the ones I did not.”
The Secret History by Donna Tartt is a 1992 novel that follows a group of classics students at the fictional Hampden collage whose lives are turned upside down when they become involved in a murder of one of their own. The book found acclaim due to Tartt’s vivid descriptions and use of an unreliable narrator and has been hailed as one of the top dark academia books.
To be completely honest, when I first picked this book up my freshman year of college I only made it through less than half of the book before tossing it aside. Initially I found that the book was too descriptive and wished that it had been more straightforward. It wasn’t until a few months later that I found the book and finished it in almost one sitting, ending with a totally different opinion.
I am not quite sure what happened between the first time I tried to read the book and when I actually completed it to change my mind on the novel as a whole. I had become much more appreciative of the detailed descriptions that allowed me to see the world of Hampden through the narrator, Richard’s, eyes. I had also become deeply entranced by the different characters throughout the story and their morals and the way they interacted with one another.
Everytime I re-read this book (which happens at least once a year), I continuously find something new. For example, during my most recent re-read I became focused on Richard as an unreliable narrator and how we have to take his words with a grain of salt. This has led me to think more about certain events in the story that may not have happened in the way Richard describes, if they even happen at all. Was it really the group who murdered the farmer? Was Bunny really evil or perhaps going mad with guilt? Was Henry really the one to push Bunny or had it been Richard all along?
The Secret History is a book that will always be timeless, that is able to be read at multiple points in one’s life and take on multiple meanings. The novel is able to make the reader stop and think on the ideas of life and what it means to live forever.
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