The Little Friend

Rating:
Summary: This book was excellent!
Review: This book was wonderful! I read all the time, and often set books down after 200 pages if I am still not interested. I could not put this 500 page book down! I was so caught up in the story, I just had to know what Harriet was up to. I even left work early to go home and read this book! This story haunted my dreams, and even made me worried about dark corners on lonely streets. It took over my life people! The other reviewers seemed disappointed and I have no idea why. I think the title makes sense, and the cover is great. Also this was one of the best endings ever. I think people were upset because it did not end the way they expected. Tartt leaves you reeling for more.....
The only problem I had was that I could not stop picturing Harriet as a younger girl, maybe nine or ten definately not twelve. She is way too much of a tom boy and way too naive to be 12. All in all,it was a wonderful, dark and entertaining novel. Now, on to The Secret History!

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected, but brilliant nonetheless
Review: Like most readers, I was highly anticipating Tartt's new book after reading The Secret History. After reading The Little Friend, however, I was slightly disappointed in that it wasn't what I expected, but very pleasing nonetheless.

Tartt's writing is exquisite, as usual, and although the book starts off seeming to be a straightforward, cut and dry mystery, it ends up being a wonderful (yet heartwrenching) story of a unique little girl's (Harriet's) summer. While critics like to point out that the story never really comes to a steadfast conclusion, I believe saying this is off the mark of the story's point. This story is a story about life, and often things never reach that perfect conclusion we desire when reading books. It is a beautifully written tale of a little girl's transition from being young and naive to having a better understanding of the "real world". It is a tale of growing up, and Harriet's desire to not only find out about her brother's death, but also to find out about herself in the process. The characters are well developed, and reading the story you feel as though you are part of Harriet's family. For anyone who has ever been a child, felt out out of place, or had a strange, strange family, I say that you will certainly love this book.

In short, if you are expecting a book exactly like The Secret History, this book is not for you. If you like simple, succint conclusions, this book is not for you. However, if you are interested in a beautiful story of growing up that will actually make you laugh but also make you cry, I would highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Ultimately disappointing
Review: Once you get by the meaningless title and the god-awful, off-putting jacket you'll find scene after scene of exquisite writing. There are scenes in the book that are achingly beautiful, haunting and at times hilarious (the grandmother and the aunts, and Gum). But when all is said and done and you finish and close the book there is nothing but disappointment. Then you look back at that terrible cover and the meaningless title and you say hmmm...

Rating:
Summary: southern milling about
Review: I'd anticipated this book for a long time - like the other reviewers, I loved "The Secret History". But this novel is quite a disappointment. The story of Robin's murder is left unchallenged, and what's supposed to be the pivotal point of the story turns out to be unimportant. I'd agree that Harriet's experience of good and evil is portrayed with vivid characters, but the settings and plot line seems wandering and almost pointless. But - maybe that *is* the point - wallowing in southern summertime heat clouds everyone's judgement. I found myself skipping chunks of text in an effort to find out simply what *happens*, and never getting there.

The book isn't horrible, and Tartt does have a beautiful way of describing people. But I found it all to be much more about the depth of the setting, rather than anything else.

Rating:
Summary: Worst novel since "Silas Marner"
Review: When I read "Silas Marner" in high school I made the decision that there could never be another novel written which is so tedious and verbose that reading it is akin to watching paint dry. That was before "The Little Friend". Ms. Tartt, who did such a fine job with "The Secret History" that I checked this web site monthly to see if there were any plans for a new novel, completeely misfires with her sophomore effort. The meticulous detail she goes into in describing the daily events in the lives of her characters could be overlooked if the plot was more interesting. Actually,I am still trying to understand exactly what the plot was. The first fifty pages of the book showed some promise as the author described an unsolved murder, which if the author would have explored, the book would have been much more interesting. Instead, the author uses this event to develop the subplot which unfortunately becomes the sole focus of the book. If you can imagine 600 pages on what should have been a quickly dismissed theory on whodunit then you now understand why the novel quickly gets bogged down into one of the slowest paced novels in years. The author could use some pointers from Thomas Wolfe, Stephen King and Pat Conroy on how to keep a very long novel fast paced and interesting. Hopefully, this effort from Ms. Tartt is not indicative of her future writings, but if so, she will have to find another 'little friend'.

Rating:
Summary: What happened?
Review: I enjoyed many parts of "The Little Friend". Ms. Tartt obviously has lots of talent but this book needed to be edited. The book roamed from one character to another. Characters were introduced and then forgotten. Why the long descriptions if the character is only peripheral? The story is about Harriet's search for her brother's killer. That main theme is never resolved but is left open at the end of the book. The question of the whole family's future is brought up and never resolved. What happened after the car accident. Was the family destitute? It seems that the last part of the book was left unfinished. I was very disappointed. This book has be compared to "To Kill a Mockingbird". I don't think so. Somewhere in this mess there was a great book but as published it is not. Somehow the final chapter was lost.

Rating:
Summary: VERY VERY DISAPPOINTING
Review: I can't believe I wasted so much time reading this 555-page book. The ending was SO thoroughly disappointing, that I was in disbelief. I'm the type of person who will always finish a book to the end, regardless of how bad it seems, because I optimistically hope it will get better. This did not. Too many unresolved issues, not enough character development, and most of all...they didn't even get to the bottom of the murder that started the book. I really had high hopes for this book, since I so enjoyed The Secret History. But, Tartt really fell short on this one.

Rating:
Summary: oh my ...
Review: I never not finish a book. In fact, I'm usually up all night trying to finish whatever I'm reading because I can't put it down. But ... I have to say, I have just under 100 pages left to read and I just can't do it anymore. Each night I struggle to read two pages before I fall asleep out of boredom and frustration. I am so disappointed. I loved the Secret History (read it in two evenings) and much looked forward to reading this new one. And now, I doubt that the balance of the book will save it, especially from the comments below.

Final comments: First, I read Crime and Punishment with more fervor. Second, if anyone in the book does anything "ostentatiously" one more time, I'm going to have to scream.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting study...
Review: i picked up this book after it was recommended to be by a friend of mine at the library. It initially took a little bit of focus to get into it, but once i did i was quite pleased. many people complain that it is unnecessarily verbose, but isn't that the point? harriet is twelve years old - the deviations tartt makes from the children's plot are the natural deviations harriet's mind makes. the story then becomes not so much about robin's murder as a potrait of society as harriet's ultimate frustration. there is so much that harriet wants to change, but as a twelve year old, she is absolutely powerless. the characters of ida and the aunts are both beautiful and heartbreaking, while the sympathy tartt makes us feel for danny and his unresolved misunderstanding with harriet is a painful reminder that life is merciless. yes, the book was long, but it had to be. tartt writes well, and you will find yourself engorssed in this book, yearning for resolve between these frustrated characters. pick it up, give it a chance, it is one of the most heartbreaking and cathartic works i have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: The book with no ending
Review: The prose in this book is rich and rewarding and for that alone, this book is worth picking up. But readers beware; this story has absolutely no ending. The "end" came so abruptly and without conclusion that I flipped through the blank pages at the end, convinced that my copy was missing the final chapters.

Unfortunately, I did have the final pages but there was no finality in them. Tartt goes to great lengths (and many pages) to pull us completely into little Harriet's life only to leave us hanging. As other readers have noted here, Tartt weaves a complex web of questions, suspicions, red herrings and innuendoes and then does absolutely nothing about tying up any of the strings.

I got the feeling that Tartt didn't know how to finish the book, so she didn't. The entire focus of the book is Harriet tracking down her brother's killer and bringing him to justice. We never know who killed Robin and there is certainly no justice served as we depart the story with Edie about to go broke due to a car accident, Harriet's parents deep in a power struggle over the future of their marriage, and Harriet questioning her identification of Robin's attacker.

This book could have become a classic. Instead it is an unfinished and unfulfilled potential classic. Never have I wanted so badly to ask an author to go back and re-think a book as I do this one.