Rating: 
Summary: Frustrating.
Review: The book is compulsively readable for most of its (unnecessarily great) length. Would we have read it and if we had, would we have been debating it at such length, had it not been for The Secret History? The answer to at least one of these questions, I fear, will have to be no. The morass of irrelevant, if frequently fascinating, detail, the flawed structure and lack of conclusion puts one in mind of an extremely sophisticated exercise in creative writing gone wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: What just happened here?
Review: Ahhhhh! Ok, first off, there are two kinds of books for me: those which grab you the second you open the front cover, so that you have almost no choice but to read with urgency... and those which slightly intrigue you in the first few pages just enough to keep you reading. The Little Friend was definitely the latter, and a huge disappointment. I just now realized, in reading previous reviews, that the title is referring to Danny as Robin's "Little Friend." Someone else said Hely was referred to as Harriet's "Little Friend." What's going on? What did I just read? Where am I? Where is the resolution, the pay-off for some absurdly gripping dramatic scenes in the end? The spooky cover makes no sense. The ending made no sense. I do feel incredibly cheated, as I forced myself to get through page after page out of sheer stubborn need to find closure and unravel the deep, dark secrets of "The Secret Friend," whoever that was! I suppose I feel rather like a voyeur into the intimate life of a family who suddenly, and without warning, disappears in the night. No forwarding address, no note, no explanation. Just an abrupt departure from one's life. ;(
Rating:
Summary: Thank goodness I'm not the only one
Review: Like everyone else I looked forward to this book with great expectations. "The Secret History" is one of the best books I have ever read and I expected this book to be of the same calliber. I was dead wrong
I thought the plot was thrilling, the characters well developed, I understood Harriet's pain and obsession and I even undersood why the book wasn't a "happy" one. What I did not understand was the ridiculous ending. Like others I asked myself "What in the world was the point of all of that?" Just a little bit of resolution would've been nice. I am thourougly dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: great character description lost in a pointless plot
Review: I don't know whether to be angry that I wasted so much time reading 500+ pages in hopes of reaching a satisfying end, or disappointed that the promise of terrific character description dead-ended as if the author just got up and left the book...And that is the way it feels, as if the author had grown tired of her characters and rather than giving the story a resolution that made sense, simply staged a 'big event' with an implausible outcome, typed "The End" and sent it off to her publisher. I believe this is why readers are posting such negative reviews....there is so much potential here. The descriptions of the South are lush and, if a bit overblown in places, also full of promise of where the story might have gone with more time and care. Yet, in the second half of the book numerous story threads are simply dropped and the main impetus of the story, the revenge and justice theme becomes nullified and distorted to such an extent that I had more empathy for 'the bad guys' than the leading character, who simply became annoying. As a reader, I feel cheated....which makes me sad, because Ms. Tartt is clearly a very talented author..... I don't know if she just lost interest in this book, and if she did, why her editor or agent didn't encourage her to persevere with the ending (f not out of respect for the time and money the readers have spent on the book, at least with an eye to maintaining the built-in market she had for the book based on fans of "The Secret History"), I would have gladly read another 100 pages for a more cohesive conclusion...either way, it's the reader that has been given short shrift. And I'm not sure if the author cares.
Rating:
Summary: Where Is The Ending?
Review: I started this book and was so excited about it I told every avid reader I know that this book could be borrowed when I was through, now I am a bit emabarassed to do so. I read it anxiously to find out who killed Harriet's brother.But as pages flew I found myself dissapointed too,too many snakes,where were we going with the evil brothers of the suspected killer? Which Aunt was which? What happened to the point? Believe me I have more questions.But bottom line is the author does have talent,she made me remember with clarity the thought patterns of my childhood.She would make use of it if she wrote a sequel to this novel and satisfied us all with an explanation.There is a reference to "your little friend" as being Hely.
Rating: 
Summary: Really liked this book!
Review: I was hooked by the very first words. I thought the story was good, but felt like the ending was not really the end. I guess I wanted some answers, but in real life, we know that it not the way it is. In all, I enjoyed the book.
Rating: 
Summary: It actually deserves a 0 star
Review: I so looked forward to reading this book. I had read a review of it in our local paper, kept the review and then finally bought it used on Amazon. It sounded like a wonderful story - a great mystery - good characters. Boy was I wrong. IT WAS AWFUL. I am so disappointed in the book I am writing my first review on Amazon. After the first couple of chapters you could have thrown the rest of it away - but I stuck with thinking "Something's got to start happening pretty soon" - but all there was was all this silly and boring business about snakes and drugs and unbelievable characters. Especially, Harriet, whom I learned to detest. I found her extremely unbelievable - plotting and scheming the way she did. And she had to have some kind of a screw loose, the way she was so fixated on revenge and snakes. I wanted to know what happened to poor Robin. His death seems absolutely meaningless, especially to the author. I have her earlier book too and maybe I'll read it someday, when the bad taste goes out of my mouth. Extremely disappointing and poorly written.
Rating:
Summary: The Little Friend
Review: To enjoy "The Little Friend," one must not only suspend disbelief, one must abandon it entirely. This thin tale, bloated to epic proportions, is an exhausting mess of a book. The only reason I finished it was because I was reluctant to hurt the feelings of the friend who loaned it to me and recommended it with great enthusiasm. Ms. Tartt leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination, excruciatingly detailing everything possible, from facial expressions, to clothing, to settings, to what the character did - or did not- or perhaps possibly did or did not - see, think , do, etc. (The screenwriters will have a very easy time of it.) There is not one truly engaging or believable character and the author telegraphs every supposed surprise. Worst of all, this really a distasteful book.
Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous Book
Review: I can't understand the negative reviews. This book is excellent, and I'm not usually fond of kid characters. Harriet is exceptional. You really feel her impatience and frustration with the foibles and limitations of the screwed up adults around her. Her quest to explain her older brother's death when she was just a baby is probably the one thing that gives her life some structure. Her mother has never recovered from the boy's death, and spends her days in bed. Father is absent, and the collection of wacky great aunts and grandmother too much in their own little worlds to really reach her. No one understands her pain when her mother fires her beloved nanny. She has one good friend, who becomes her accomplice. Although I bought this book because I liked The Secret History so much, I was doubtful that I'd enjoy it as much, but Tartt draws Harriet and her family so well, that I devoured the book, and loved Harriet almost from the beginning. The ending is *slightly* disappointing, as was the ending of Secret History, but not enough to affect the experience of the book itself. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time!
Review: As the mother of a toddler, spending what little free time I have reading a good book is definitely a luxury. After careful selection and much anticipation, though, this book was nothing but a huge disappointment and a major waste of time! It started out fine enough...suspenseful and quite interesting. However, it didn't take long before I forgot all about the murdered brother entirely, and found myself lost in the monotonous details of completely insignificant things (why DO we need to know the entire history of one cup?). Oh, and the end? Forget it! I found myself flipping the pages, certain that there had to be something else that I missed. Was it too "deep" for me? Did I somehow miss the meaning entirely? I doubt it. I honestly think Ms. Tartt simply bored herself into some kind of writer's block and decided to call it done. Ridiculous!
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