Rating: 
Summary: Blah blah blah
Review: This is what happened to me reading this book: I found myself skimming through whole pages thinking 'and blah blah blah.' This has never happened to me with a book before. The reviewer who said this book needed and editing job was spot-on. I longed to take a red pen to it and cut, cut, cut. Half as long and it would have been much better. I cannot recommend this book to a friend, and having not read The Secret History already I have become a little bit wary of reading it in the future.The previous two reviews I can only agree with; they sum up my feelings very well. However, what prompted me into writing this review is something which quite enraged me. And so I write with a warning to a potential reader who has ever loved a person with Down's Syndrome. Okay, so Tartt has given us a character with Down's, and that it ususual and perhaps to be applauded. But this character, Curtis, is described in such terms as to make my blood boil. He lumbers, rolls, drools; he has squishy little eyes and a 'smashed' face; he chokes out single words now and then, accompanied by much pointing and dribbling and hugging of cuddly toys. His hands are clammy and pudgy. He cries a lot and loves kittens. Come on now! Anybody who who has a person in their life with Down's Sydrome will be horrified by this character. My brother has Down's. He has an earing and long hair. He goes to the gym and is slim. He is more articulate than a lot of 'normal' adults I've met. It's true he is a kind and gentle person, but he - and every other person with Down's I know - is more like the rest of us than our society cares to admit. If you too have someone in your life with Down's Syndrome, then DO NOT READ this book. It will only hurt and anger you. Okay, so this book is jam-packed with stereotypes; and should we say that all authors have to be PC and moral? No. I don't think so. But it annoys me that she uses the fact of having Down's Syndrome as a plot device (he exists to show that the suspected murderer, Danny, is a good person trapped by circumstance - who but a good person could care so much about such a creature as Curtis?)If you read this book as someone who knows nothing about Down's Syndrome, don't believe a word of it. If you do know someone, and care about them, then don't read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading
Review: The 'blurb' on the back of this book leads you to believe this will be a murder mystery about the horrific death of a young child. When you read the first few pages you are gripped by the tragedy and mystery of it. You are primed for a satisfying tale that will ultimately answer the question the book asks in it first pages. Who murdered Robin? Well, I wish I had checked in with Amazon before investing my time into 600 plus pages. If I had done so I would have known that we NEVER find out who killed Robin. Sure, we read about the damage and long-term effects of his murder upon his family but if that's the story you are looking for Alice Sebold will much better serve you with The Lovely Bones. The Little Friend offers no mystery, no compelling tale; it simply meanders aimlessly with stock characters who have no great insight and ultimately give you the feeling of having wasted your weekend.
Rating:
Summary: Immensely unsatisfying ending
Review: Just finished this one. Let's just say that after reading 625 pages of a novel where the little boy gets murdered on page 1, it's hugely disappointing and appallingly cheap not to FINISH THE STORY and let the readers know who committed the crime. I would have given this 1 star, but Tartt is a good writer and having grown up in the South I thought her dialog was true-to-life. Otherwise, don't waste your time. I also agree that the book would benefit from some serious editing. How many descriptions of the trees do we really need?
Rating: 
Summary: Donna Tartt ignores her responsibilities to reader at end
Review: I have mixed feelings about this novel. To its advantage, it is an entertaining story. Some of the passages are as florid as a magnolia tree in springtime. Each character is firmly delineated and different from any other character, lending a fine drama to all the interactions. The Publisher's Weekly review noted that one of the African-American characters, Ida, is perhaps a wee bit stereotyped. I agree, especially with the way the character speaks. The novel could have been more rounded if Ida and her neighbors were also granted narrative space, outside of the company of their white employers. However, author Tartt's descriptions of the interior minds of rednecks is refreshing. Here, poor Southern whites quibble over manners just as much as their richer cousins across the tracks. The rednecks are 3-D characters, and certainly steel the show at times. The way Danny flirts around his older brooding brother Farish will be familiar to anyone who tip toes around someone likely to go off any moment for no reason. Tartt captures this perfectly: the way Danny watches his tone of voice, keeps his face neutral at all times, always trying to placate Farish by figuring out first what he wants and then giving it to him. The stately grandmother, Edith, is a perfectly captured white southern lady with the good name, the lost money and a whole lot of bite behind her bark. She dispenses Scotch-Irish maxims all while ignoring her grandchildren's obvious pleas for sympathy. Harriet, the prepubescent protagonist, thinks and acts exactly like a precocious seventh grader. I can't help but wonder if Tartt was inspired by Harriet the Spy, or at least loved the book like I did when I was 12. Harriet thinks with innocent childhood logic, makes conclusions based on false premises, and sees conspiracy in the way the paper towels hang underneath the cabinets. Her life and times in The Little Friend brought back hazy memories of when I had one best friend to whom I told everything, summer vacation was so long I actually wanted to go back to school, and best teachers were "cool." How surprised I was, then, when Harriet actually stumbles (bumbles) upon a crime scene and gets herself into a very tight spot. Every good story novel should end with a bang. Nearing the end of Tartt's longish novel, we are in the palm of her hand, right where she wants us. It is disappointing then, that Tartt fails to send us off with a satisfied "A-HA" or "I never imagined that ..." or "I knew all along that .." I will warn future readers that while they may regret when the book is finished as reading it is fun, the ending is most disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Art Mirrors Life, Accurately & Gorgeously
Review: Donna Tartt's "The Little Friend" is an excellent book that has been unfairly slandered by many readers, though most critics seem to have realized (correctly) that the book truly deserves praise. In her second novel Tartt delivers a story with no easy answers and no easily dismissed characters, no convienient forces of evil and no happy endings. The plot of the novel revolves around twelve year-old Harriet DuFresnes and her efforts to bring her older brother's murderer(s?) to justice. A brilliant child, Harriet pursues her course single-mindedly and unknowingly upsets the delicate constellations of how things are in her family in Alexandria, Mississippi. Tartt portrays all of her many, widely different characters with compassion and humor, but above all a clear eye, managing to convey everyone's decencies but also their failings. I've never read a book that so clearly--and chillingly--depicts the perfunctory brutalities well-meaning adults inflict on children without even knowing it, for instance. Nor have I ever read a book that has made me so angry about racial and social injustices, never mind that "The Little Friend" is set in the 70s. Happily, Tartt's gift for black humor is more fully employed here than in "The Secret History," her first (also excellent) novel. If I had to pinpoint one reason why this book has fared so poorly among the reading public, both on amazon.com and among people I've talked to in the real world, I would say it is because that Tartt does not flinch from portraying the fundamental injustices, hardships, and sufferings that fill most people's lives. At one point I had to put the book down, riveting as it is, because it was so depressingly true to life. In this its brilliance is revealed; despite the many inequities it portrays, "The Little Friend" still manages to convey a satisfying ending, as Harriet comes through her self-engineered ordeal to a well-earned, if sadly adult, self-knowledge and wisdom.
Rating: 
Summary: Huge book, huge waste of time.
Review: It was already painful within the first few chapters, but I trudged on giving it the benefit of a doubt.. Boy was I wrong. I just finished it last night and I feel completely cheated and lied to. This book is long, pretentious and immensely unsatisfying. All the characters are unbelievable and unbelievably uninteresting. Harriet especially is overbearing and tiring.. I could go on but as you can see, over 400 other people already have. 'The Little Friend?' ...More like 'How Not to Write.'
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the investment (time or money)!
Review: Three words: long, pretentious, and unending.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing.
Review: I have never written a review before but I felt the need.The end of this book just infuriated me. Every critic that proclaimed this book to be "amazing" must have been high. I didn't mind the 600+ pages or the endless descriptions of sights, sounds, and smells. I actually enjoy a long book with attention to detail. However, I did mind the many hints that pervaded the book that never seemed to go anywhere. I felt that Tartt was tired of her own book towards the end and,instead of investing more time and energy into it, through it by the wayside. I just wish I had.
Rating:
Summary: I hated The Secret History and I hate this one too
Review: I hated TSH because of its vapid, arrogant, slick, pseudo-intellectual characters. Still, I realized that this author could write like noboby's business, so I decided to buy this one used and give her work another try. Don't get me wrong -- this novel came out of the gate running. Good set up, bad follow- through. I don't know what happened. Around page 187, my boredom reached its peak and I wanted to throw it in the trash. This author can WRITE -- and I enjoy adult books about children very much, (my favorite book is "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving), and here she created a fine, realistic Southern setting, (which I found a trifle cliche, but touche), interesting characters and a good mystery plot, and . . . it fell flat, and as someone mentioned earlier, it had no resolution. There are no novels more annoying to me than those with bad resolutions, with unanswered questions, with a crappy denouement. And it takes 600 pages, HARDBACK, to get to the bad resolution!!!!! Ouch! Someone else mentioned the word "editor". Certainly that would have helped, because most of the book is about the 12 year old heroine and her little boy friend running around town eating popsicles, trying to catch snakes, and spying on rednecks. But even better than that, PLEASE don't anyone write a novel again leaving questions dangling in the air. Especially not a 600 page novel with questions dangling!!! I could have used my valuable time to read something else!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but I expected more
Review: I loved Donna Tart's debut novel, THE SECRET HISTORY. I eager awaited her follow-up and was hoping to be blown away like I was with HISTORY. While this novel is good, it is not great. The beginning is very strong and as usual, Tartt is wonderful at fleshing out her characters. Still, I suppose I was expecting more. At the very least, I wanted a hint to the idenity of Robin's killer. The fact that this was never revealed seemed rather cheeky. Also, in regards to the length, I definately feel that a good editor could have cut 20-50 pages without sacrificing the plot. I recall that a lot of reviews I read for HISTORY complained about how long it was but after having read both, I can honestly say that it didn't feel like a chore to wade through all those pages. THE LITTLE FRIEND on the other hand did. Overall, good book but expect some disappointment at the end.
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