Rating: 
Summary: There's a good book lost in it somewhere...
Review: When I first began this book, I was nearly in love with it. Tartt's prose is vivid and exquisite, and the premise for the story looked like something that would make a good page-turner. And for the first hundred or so pages, it was very good. Then it succumbed to a number of flaws. First of all, rule # 1 for thriller writers: Don't kill off your best character. Poor Bunny, by far the most human and only three-dimensional character in the book, is offed before you're halfway through. I see a few reviews have dealt with the unlikability of the characters. I certainly don't think we necessarily ought to love characters in a novel or want to follow them in any way, but I believe the author has a responsibilty to make his characters interesting and believable. If each of your characters can be summed up in a sentence or a simple series of adjectives, why bother to draft 500 pages exploring their minds and the effect murder has on them? In a novel that reveals the denouement on the first page, fascinating, layered characters are the key to keeping the reader's interest. This lack caused the book to drag, and drag, and drag... One wonders whether Tartt is deliberately trying to forget all rules of the Greek tragedy she seems to be emulating-- these cardboard characters are already such simple flaws by themselves that they don't have enough dimension for true hubris. As far as the plot goes it's simple and tends to stray from the main storyline (there's a sub-storyline about drugs for example, that doesn't create any addition to the book except pages). I wish I could say it kept me up, but rather I tended to doze off in reading it. Read the beginning of the book for Tartt's beautiful descriptions and for Bunny, who deserves a book of his very own, as he was unreasonably shortchanged in this one, and also for Julian's wonderful speeches. But skip the rest. I must say, as a student of ancient Greek at a small, eastern liberal arts college, I was very excited about reading this book. I wish it could have been better...
Rating: 
Summary: This book is Incredible!
Review: No other book keeps me awake at night. I've read this book 3 times and every time I dream about it at night and it's all I think about. I hope every person who likes to read reads this book. It may change your life.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully written! I don't remember ever putting it down.
Review: If you are not literate in Greek there may be a few trouble reading spots, but when you get passed that, it is a wonderful read. The characters are developed nicely and the story line is well thought out. I would definetly reccomend this book to a in coming college students or anyone else who wants to see how good books are written.
Rating:
Summary: Please think about this
Review: The positive reviews here are not exaggerated, and there's not much that I can add. Do yourself a favour and read the book! Regarding some of the negative reviews: There's nothing wrong with NOT liking a novel (or any other book for that matter) because of one's tastes. But isn't it a bit immature to hate a book because you can't 'identify' with the characters? In real life, there are a lot of people with whom we can't identify, people we don't particularly like. But they still exist. There's nothing we can do about the fact that they were born. Fiction is when someone reinvents real life. So it is quite normal that there are unlikeable characters in fiction. I'd rather have ambiguous or even totally despicable characters that are well portrayed than glorious hero-types in a comic book without pictures. I find this phenomenon in all kinds of creative work: People hate films with excellent actors, directors and scripts because of the subject matter. Usually the same people who doubt the artistry and craftsmanship of a genius because there are only 'ugly' people in his paintings.
Rating:
Summary: Not many books do this to me...
Review: My girlfriend lent me this book to read on our holiday, and I think she regretted it - I ploughed through it not once, but twice, turning from the last page back to the first without a pause. Maybe one book in a hundred makes me do that. Sure this book won't satisfy everyone, as certain other reviews here make plain; written no doubt by readers who move their lips as they read, and whose knuckles drag on the ground as they walk.
Rating:
Summary: The only book I recommend to friends...
Review: I've read The Secret History three times and each time something new catches my eye. It is a beautifully written and well developed tale. I read a great deal and have found that of all the characters I've come to know, Richard Papen is the one to whom I can best relate. Donna Tartt has an incredible feel for character development. A few weeks ago I loaned out my original hard-cover copy to a friend. Three days later she cursed me for it. She hadn't been able to put the book down and had started dreaming about the characters! How can anyone call that boring?
Rating:
Summary: absolutely a great novel...
Review: Quite simply, I loved this book. I found it breathtaking, inventive, and brilliant in its execution. Donna Tartt has a wonderful gift for prose, which at times spins out like poetry. Full of vivid descriptions and emotions, the pace is excellent and keeps you turning the pages to the very end. I loved the way she told you what happens on the very first page. This first half of the book, you spend figuring out how on earth you got there, and the second half dealing with the aftermath. Excellent book. Now, if we could just get her to publish another book...
Rating:
Summary: Nothing I've Read Since Satisfies As Much
Review: Right after The Secret History was published, I had the chance to get to know Donna for a short while. She, like her tale, is intoxicating. Meeting this fragile, yet awesomely powerful, soul made me appreciate the book even more . . . since it was written in first-person as a man. I've lost touch with her . . . the last postcard came from France, where she was working on her second novel a few years ago. I eagerly await the second coming of Donna. I suspect she'll be wearing a dramatically different hat. Until then, memories of the beach and the Royalton will have to suffice.
Rating:
Summary: Did Kirkus READ this book?
Review: No question this book is on my all-time top read list. I loved this story: touching, suspenseful and brilliantly original. As these Ivy League classics students immerse themselves in Greek tragedy in class, their real-life murder plot exposes each of their own fatal flaws and eventually their downfall. Euripedes would have loved it! Don't bother with the Kirkus review-read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Ignore Kirkus Reviews---This is an exceptional book!
Review: Out of all the fiction that I have read during this decade, Donna Tartts A Secret History stands out as one of the most notable books of the decade. Her style is exquisite. Her ability to create mood and atmosphere and make you part of the characters in her novel is unequaled. By the time you are in middle of the novel you feel as if you are actually experiencing what the characters are going through, i.e. you are one of them. Whenever I have to recommend a novel, this title always comes to mind although I have read it many years ago. Sometimes its the critics who must be criticized on their opinions.
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