Rating: 
Summary: WoW!!!
Review: I really truely just could not put this book down! I am so depressed to have finished it because nothing else I pick up come close to compare. A must read!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: I had to read this for a class in college and I loved it. It is a great story. It really draws you into the story from the first page. You feel like you are experincing everything along with Richard. You also are drawn into the secret and the inner circle, that leds to the death of Bunny. i am really glad we had to read this story.
Rating:
Summary: Clever writing for a specific age group.
Review: This is one of my favorite books and I have reread it many times. I find the writing style very humorous, clever, and moving in a way other authors have yet to match. If you believe the editorial reviews you will assume its "precious and pretentious", but my theory on that is generational. I am forty years old and identify completely with the childhood of the narrater and the hazards it can create in later life, namely a willingness to idolize those who appear to have emerged from a more interesting and glamorous backgound and a tendency to ignore clay feet till they are melting around you. In the very first sentence, the narrator identifies his own fatal flaw as "a longing for the picturesque at all cost." I think the editors have missed the point of this book; it is not meant to be suspenseful or or a page turner, rather it is a study of how the cynical, disappointed, disinfranchised child of American suburbia can get tangled up in his own illusions about other people's lives. I have the impression that I am on the outer edge of the age group that will be able to understand or identify with this affliction so if you are say, older than 45, you probably won't like this book and may find it "precious and pretentious", but anyone younger will probably identify and find it involving. I believe an editor also described it as silly and shallow but a search on Amazon will reveal that there is a study guide written for this book and that would tend to contradict the "shallow" assessment. Humor and attitude are so often specific to a given generation. My parents find Bob Hope hysterical and I just don't get it. That probably means that neither Bob Hope nor the Secret History are destined to become timeless classics, but both are highly enjoyable in their own times and there is value in that. I wish Donna Tartt would write again.
P.S. If you like this book, you will probably also enjoy Pete Dexter's The Paperboy. Its spectacular writing from a similar point of view.
Rating: 
Summary: Emotioanl, dramatic novel of friendship, love and murder
Review: An intriguing first novel about a group of college friends whose love of Greek classicism (and a great
teacher) leads to murder. While many critics have found this book pretentious, I found the characters
interesting and well drawn. In fact, the charcters are the most interesting part of the book. The murder
that occurs and what leads up to it is less interesting than getting inside these characters heads. Read
this for a well-written look at five people and a look inside their heads as they go through a terrible year
in college. If you're looking for a good mystery however, look elsewhere. This is a character study.
Rating: 
Summary: what is all the fuss about?
Review: I was given this book by a friend who said it was ever so brilliant but I couldn't believe how bad it was! Full of over-the-top clichès about student sex'n'drugs lifestyles, totally unbelievable in the plot and the characters - how could the incredibly brainy Henry have been such a friend of the almost mentally retarded Bunny? And how can a 21-year-old be so impossibly erudite as to read books in all sorts of ancient (let alone modern) languages? Totally far-fetched, a short story could easily have been sufficient for such a boring, unimaginative plot (I kept telling myself: well, something interesting is bound to happen now...but it never did!) - 660 pages were certainly not necessary - what a waste of paper! Poor trees! :-)
Rating:
Summary: This book changed my life
Review: I would suggest reading this book over a long weekend in which you fully accept the fact that you won't leave your apartment. I lost sleep over this book. I skipped meals. I smoked many cigarettes. I drank a lot of Johnnie Walker. I absolutely, positively did not want to leave the world that Donna Tartt had created for me. I did not want these characters to exit my life. I was a lit major in college, and, I have to say, I never felt this way about a book. I think, at the end of the day, "The Secret History" is the only book that ever got me. Any Honors student, any language major, any angst-filled existentialist will feel like Donna Tartt is speaking directly to them. I felt as if I became Richard. I won't go further for fear of spoiling the book for people who haven't read it, but I can honestly say that this book changed my view of my own past, of my own experiences, and left me with a lot of questions of where I'm going in life. Honestly, if you are a twentysomething overachiever wondering what the Hell you're doing with your life and need some perspective on what you have done, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: when i read this book, i couldn't believe that it was donna tartt's first and only novel to date.. her delivery and colorful writing is a delight and the suspense was enough to keep me in the house for days, not wanting to put this one down.. if you like mystery, it's a must-read..
Rating: 
Summary: "We only begin to live when we conceive life as tragedy"
Review: In the spirit of revisited masterpieces with modern flair, Donna Tart brings us, "A Secret History". A novel about an elite clique of six 'Generation X' college students who engross themselves with each other and their studies, drink a lot of alcohol, struggle with identities, and realize how truly tragic the grown up world is. Seem like a pretty typical coming of age novel?, well factor in the groups participation in archaic Greek rituals, the murder of one of their own and a grand cover-up scheme and the novel gains some originality if nothing else. Think I gave away the whole plot? Not really- there isn't much of a plot to give away, at least not one worthy of the 400+ pages SH presents, but still, it's a decent read, kind of like 90210 with a Homeresque influence. The story is narrated by the newest addition to this pseudo-aristocratic group, Richard, a typical California kid who travels to the secluded hills of Vermont to pursue educational endeavors and escape his mundane, middle class family life. Upon arrival to this prestigious university, he quickly learns the existence of this mystical society that studies classics and has only one teacher for it's entire curriculum. Despite warnings from seemingly 'normal' peers and teachers, young Richard is obsessionately determined to be accepted by this exotic sub-culture. Through him we are slowly acquainted the other obscure characters and their diabolical secret history. To the surprise of the rest of the college, Richard gains acceptance into the elite society, but he still feels excluded on many levels. Wtih the nagging notion that things aren't exactly as they seem (even to an insider), Richard tries to make all the members accept him and bestow their confidence in him. Eventually, Richard gets his way, but his knowledge of covert behaviors and cherished secrets forces him to become more deeply entangled in their activities and causes him to participate in otherwise inconceivable exploits. Throughout the novel we witness our narrator's loss of innocence and refreshing naivety and watch as he painfully ascertains the meaning of the opening quote.
Despite it's seemingly captivating homicide scandal, SH is not a mystery; it is not a thrilling nor suspenseful novel, though it does have it's engaging, charismatic characters, a little bit of sexually provocative situations, and some undeniably funny circumstances all readers can relate to. It has been called Intellectual, a thinking man's novel, but I didn't find that either. Simply because a novel is based on intellectual characters and an academic subject matter, it doesn't qualify as an educational novel. It's style has been compared to that of the 'Great Gatsby', however I wasn't quite as impressed; I thought the novel was decent, but I would hardly compare it to such a literary masterpiece. What I did find was a touching story and a somewhat philosophical abstract on one's creation of identity. One of my favorite quotes from the Secret History was from the prophetic teacher Julian who told his students, "Our own selves make us most unhappy, and that's why we're so anxious to lose them, don't you think?." College years are a very formative find in a person's life (even if you don't go to college) and I think Secret History is a good reflection of the time when we go through switching our identities and becoming the person we want to be, building identities based on traits we strive for and abolishing those we abhor, taking a little from those we admire and putting aside traits of those we don't . In time we find that we may not be able to escape some characteristics innate in our personality and everyone deals with this in a different way. It was interesting to witness the characters in this book face this realism, but not interesting enough to be drawn out for 400 pages. I have heard many claim Secret History to be amongst their personal favorites, and though I found it somewhat mediocre, perhaps you'll disagree and find the insatiableness that I somehow missed.
Rating:
Summary: The new face of evil : best of the thriller genre
Review: Donna Tartt's much acclaimed "The Secret History" has rightfully joined the ranks of modern literary classics. As a thriller or murder mystery, it is in a class of its own. No two ways about it. But Tartt had loftier aims and it would be criminal not to recognise her breathtakingly fresh look at the face of evil. Richard Papen, the narrator, didn't know it lived within his own soul until it was too late. Neither did the others in the clique he drifted into. Like Jean Brodie's girls, Julian's boys (Henry, Bunny, Francis, Charles) & Camilla are a reactionary bunch. They are encouraged by their study of the Greek classics to explore the outer limits of freedom and abandonment. On one fateful April night, their experiment went a little too far resulting in a horrific and senseless murder, which in turn triggered the masterminding of a second murder to cover up the first. It's perhaps tempting to see their mentor Julian as a kindly old fuddy-duddy but what he represents and fosters - consciously or otherwise - is a heartless amorality infinitely more frightening than the actual murders themselves evoke. Look how he reacts when the truth finally stares him in the face. The enactment of the Dionysian frenzies in the forest is for me quite the most chilling passages ever written. It spooked me out because it was about the EVIL in us being given the night off and on a rampage. Henry's outburst in reaction to Julian's indifference is telling and insightful. These boys are sick of the decadence in their lives. What they need for therapy is the exact opposite of what the Greek philosophers espouse. Dark ironies. Tartt's writing is beautifully taut, precise and lucid. She skillfully sustains the seething momentum of quiet hysteria all through the first half of the novel. Only after the second murder is committed does the pace slacken somewhat but it quickly regains its lost momentum to deliver a shattering ending that will leave you shaking. "The Secret History" is such an outstanding and accomplished work it should be included in every literature student's reading list. A monumental advertisement for the thriller genre.
Rating:
Summary: Wouldn't change a thing
Review: I first heard about this novel from an obscure reference on the dust jacket of Alex Garland's "The Beach". I decided to check it out, and found myself continually and consistantly impressed by both the story AND the writing. Tartt displays her talent without flaunting it.
Going by the numbers, the novel is quite long, but I hung on every word and was even disappointed when I turned onto the last page. I was actually sad that the story had come to an end. I hear that a movie is in the works. As long as the filmmakers stick to the text, they will have a surefire success on their hands.
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