The Secret History - Donna Tartt

Lauren loaned me this book and I just finished it last night (2/25/08). Sometimes you love a book immediately. Other times it's more of a struggle to get through. This book was one that I liked from the first page. The story was captivating, interesting and intriguing, both philosophically and ethically. Some of the references to classic literature and Greek history were over my head, but it didn't get in the way of my understanding. The plot was a little improbable, and I am not generally a fan of typical murder mysteries, but I didn't ever feel that this was one of those stories. I liked how you saw the story unfold through the narrator's eyes, you learned things as he did and were shut out when he was shut out. One element I was constantly trying to figure out was when this took place. I had a vague idea, based on songs or cultural references, but some of the characters spoke in such archaic dialogue that it was a little disconnected. Overall I was definitely impressed with this ambitious first novel by Donna Tartt... it was one of those books that keeps you awake long after you should have been asleep because you just can not put it down.


P.S. I just learned on Wikipedia that a passage from the novel was used as a sample reading selection on the June 2, 2007 administration of the SAT.