Book 4/65-The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Again, I can only apologise for my absence from blogging over the last week. I was hanging out with my boyfriend and having too much of a nice time to spend much time on the internet, so lapsed a little on the blog front.

The Secret History is a story about those sort of friendships you make whilst at college or university-the ones that form out of the unique pressures that you find yourself in in that situation. We are told the tale through the eyes of Richard Papen-who grew up in an ugly suburban town in California, longing for somewhere more beautiful and who settled on Hampden College, Vermont simply because he liked the pictures in the promotional brochure. He studies Greek under the very elitist and somewhat eccentric Julian Morrow-so elitist in fact that Richard becomes one of only 6 students under him. He soon falls in with his fellows and the story follows their friendship over a year or so of "study" (surprisingly little is mentioned of it) and the dramatic events that brings them all closer together than ever and then ultimately shatters them apart again.

Did I enjoy it? Hard to say really. I did recognise the feelings of being an outsider desperate to get in with a group and the elation when they finally start to accept you as one of them, but don't we all? I also liked the familiar way that the friendships were described-everything is more intense than usual at uni because life is placing its pressures on you at the time and I think anyone who has been a student will understand something of that. I can't say I fell for any of the characters though-they were all written in a way that made them rather dislikeable-all fiendishly clever  (to the point where you know they would look down your nose at you) but with character faults that I certainly wouldn't want in my friends-neurotic, manipulative, possessive, a money leech, incredibly selfish etc. They didn't get under my skin in the same way that some characters in some books do, and I found myself utterly unmoved by the terrible events that befell them-I was certainly a long way from heartbroken.

Tartt also does something I really hate in books-where the course of a year or so takes up most of the 600+ pages and then all the messy ends are neatly tied up in the last 20 pages in a 'some years later' sort of way. (Think Harry Potter 7's awful final chapter if you don't get what I mean). I'd almost rather be left wondering what happened to the characters than have their stories clipped so neatly and abruptly at the end.

For that, I think 'The Secret History' is well written and does capture the spirit of being away at university very well-the hedonism, the friendships, the loneliness, the way you don't really feel part of the real world etc. On the other hand though, the casual way that the darker parts of the story are revealed by the characters-delusions, alcoholism, incest and even murder-as if they are nothing more important than a change in the season jars heavily with me and makes it feel a little unreal. It's just not a story that feels like it could happen in real life, but it's trying very hard to convince you otherwise, that this is just a normal bunch of teenagers doing normal student things, and for me it seemed to take a step too far in the other direction in doing so.
Will it end up on my bookshelf to be read again? Almost certainly not. I didn't find myself able to care for the characters and the story left me pretty cold, and as it's some 600+ pages long it takes far too long to actually tell for my liking.

For me, at least,  'The Secret History' should remain just a secret.

-Jenni-