Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Readers of Tartt's first book, the page-turner "The Secret History," will be pretty disappointed with this eagerly-awaited second novel. A mystery is set up at the beginning--who killed Harriet's brother some 10 years ago? Tartt then takes us through 500+ pages of lush description of the South, very well written but there's just too much of it. Like many other readers I bogged down after the first 200 pages or so and only picked it up again when my book club date was looming. The second half was better--the long-suffering family housekeeper departs in a painful episode, and we see Harriet struggling with, one the one hand, childish anger and, on the other, very real anguish and regret that she has permanently discarded the most important relationship in her life. During this time she also loses her best friend Hely to the distractions of early adolescence. Tartt paints a very painful picture of a child who becomes increasingly isolated and sinks deeper and deeper into her obsession with the Ratliffs. Probably due to the length of the book, I forgot why she had decided who the "killer" was--it is sad that by the end she has forgotten too. Like many reviewers, I too thought the author didn't wrap it up in any way. But the book left me thinking about what would happen to Harriet. It is clear that the illness diagnosis we get on the second to last page is going to be the least of Harriet's problems--what this child goes through undoubtedly leaves her scarred for life, and the illness probably will be viewed mistakenly as the root cause of whatever problems follow. But these musings aren't enough pay-off for slogging through this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many words, too little thinking
Review: This book would have been served well by some serious editing. Unnecessary, tedious descriptions did not add to the plot, characterization or interest of the story. I did not find the text particularly well written, and so the extra words were not enjoyable. Often times, all that was needed was the first and last sentences in the paragraphs. I found it excessively boring and depressing. Things only marginally came together at the end, but overall the ending was unsatisfying, mostly because none of the characters seemed to change (except the ones that died) or grow.
Rating:
Summary: Boring, yes - but is the answer there?
Review: Tartt writes well. I don't like mysteries and I can be a serious reader (I've read all of Proust, for goodness' sake). I also like sdome open-ended mysteries, when they're done well. But this book was dull and boring. I wanted a resolution to the boy's death, and though I suspected all the way through that there wouldn't be an "answer," still I was disappointed. I kept thinking that I was missing something, like more story was hidden under all the words, and in the frustrating silences of the characters who refuse to talk (Charlotte, Edie, Allison, all the aunts and their maids). I thought that if I reread the book, maybe I'd see something I missed, and the mystery would be solved. But, to be honest, the thought of rereading this novel was supremely depressing; I simply don't have the time or the interest. SPOILER ALERT. Some clues I thought were leading somewhere:
- Harriet is mistaken as an Odum child, more than once. Are we to question her parentage? She doesn't look like Allison, though she does look like Edie.
- Libby's maid, Odean, shows up at the funeral and seems to know something, some secret - she says something like, "I know what I saw...". Was this about Robin?
- The Ratliff grandfather (or father?) is revealed in passing to be a former worker at Tribulation. Did this have something to do with Robin?
- Everyone, from Edie to Ida to Allison, supposedly "knows" something that is never revealed.
- What's with the bird costume?
- Does Harriet's epilepsy have some further implications for the plot? Did Robin have it as well? A frustrating, unpleasant book. It made me angry and unhappy - and that was about halfway through, well before the non-ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I really disliked this book. The plot was practically non-existent, as was the ending. I LOVED The Secret History and bought this book in hardback (something I never do) because I couldn't wait to read it. It was so boring I finally just read the last chapter.
Rating:
Summary: really, really tedious, and nothing happened
Review: Wish I'd read the amazon review before impetuously buying a hardbound copy of this book (or any copy for that matter). Enjoyed her first book but found the follow-up to be unbelievably tedious, and ultimately nothing happened. WAY too much information about characters that merited a paragraph or two. I kept plodding along with my reading, erroneously believing that there would be some identifiable outcome. About half way through, I realized that I was skimming entire pages ... later I began skipping chapters. It was a huge disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: blah, blah, blah and so it goes
Review: Donna Tartt is a good writer, not a great writer. Yet, the editors at Adolf Knopf’s Borzoi Books due her great injustice by not editing enough. In The Little Friend, Tartt takes a dramatic departure from The Secret History and moves south. Her characters are well crafted and take on distinctive voices and personalities. As before, she again takes on a dark and twisted subject. But, unlike the Secret History, the plot is not filled with complex character motives and certainly does not require 555 pages to unfold. So many pages are filled with Tartt’s thinking and fleshing out of scenes and characters that are completely unnecessary to the story line and of no value to the reader. The only thing this excess accomplishes is to slow any momentum and leave the reader wondering, “Why do I need to know this?†Other than character building, this novel displays very little craft. For Ms. Tartt’s sake, let us hope that she does not spend another wasted decade, but instead matures in her technique and learns economy of words.
Rating: 
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: I bought this book off the strength of its excellent review in TIME. I'm glad I didn't check out Amazon's reviews first - I probably would have passed on this book and missed a novel that I'm really, really glad I read. I just finished and I'd like to add my 2 cents' worth, to counter all the negative reviews here. This is a well-above-average book. I'd like to echo the reader from Detroit who points out that this is literature, not a mystery novel. Boring? I've hardly been able to put it down for the past three days. I grew up in a small Southern town in the seventies, and I found the description of the time and place dead-on. The characters are complex, but that didn't stop me from liking them. The ending may not be the pat ending everyone expected, but that is to Tartt's credit. Maybe this is just one of those books you either "get" or you "don't get", without much middle ground. I have not read The Secret History, but thanks to The Little Friend, it's next on my list.
Rating:
Summary: THE STOYR WITHOUT END
Review: THE BOOK WAS GOOD BUT THERE WAS NO STAISFACTIN WITH THE ENDING. ACUTULLY THERE WAS NOT ENDING. I WENT TO THE BOOK STORE THINKING MY BOOK WAS MISSING PAGES. STORIES SHOULD HAVE AN ENDING JUST AS THEY HAVE A BEGINNING
Rating:
Summary: Wretched
Review: If this ghastly pastiche (or perhaps unintentional parody) of Harper Lee, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams had been written by Donna Smith or Donna Jones, it wouldn't have been published. Simple as that. Tartt is a celebrity. Celebrity books get published without any regard to what their merits (or lack thereof) may be.
And to all of you who were wondering why this book wasn't edited, the answer again is that it is a celebrity book, and celebrity books aren't edited. The assumption is that they don't need to be: the public will rush out to buy them regardless of how dreadful they may be.
The Little Friend isn't literature. It isn't even entertainment.
Rating: 
Summary: A Southern Reality Book
Review: The characterizations are superb. I will read it again and enjoy how well the author drew these differing portraits. I would have been delighted if there had been no story at all. The plot was preposterous--what I would expect in the juvenile adventure section of a library. However, that did not spoil the richness of the characters. Any writer would gain immeasurably by reading how Donna Tartt drew, painted in, shaded, highlighted, etc. these unforgettable southern people. A Reality Show between book covers. Adult plotlines and development will come--once she puts her mind to it. Read the book, ignore the plot. Enjoy the fantastic people.
| 
