The Little Friend

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I couldn't wait to read "The Little Friend," and when I started it I thought it was going to be all I had hoped for. It wasn't. The prologue and the first hundred or so pages were good, but it was downhill from there. Harriet was a wonderful character, as were her aunts and Edie, her grandmother, and the mystery of Robin's death was intriguing, but, that is not what the book is about. It is being hyped as a murder mystery, and it couldn't be farther from that. Harriet is supposed to be a smart 12 year old, unafraid to tell people her opinion, but when she finally comes face to face with the alleged murderer, she doesn't speak, even when he is screaming at her to tell him what she is up to. I found that very frustrating, although the entire book was frustrating. It is not a murder mystery; there is no gathering of evidence, Harriet merely assumes Danny did it because the maid Ida Rhew said he had been at the house and she "ran him off," even though Harriet knows quite well that Ida Rhew doesn't like any other children that come to the house. "The Little Friend" is also called a coming of age novel, which I don't think it is either. Let's see, Harriet, without any evidence, sets off to kill the person she thinks killed her brother - he turns out to be an addicted ex-con from a trash family, who along with his brothers is paranoid and violent. She is hunted by these people, they all cross paths violently, and then Harriet finds out Danny most likely didn't kill her brother. Oopsie. The ending wasn't an ending, probably the worst end to a book ever. Who killed Robin is never explained, as I understand in life sometimes we don't find out these things, but here, really, the reader should have been given some satisfaction. I was terribly disappointed with "The Little Friend."

Rating:
Summary: Very tightly written, with beautiful, gothic imagery
Review: Donna Tartt has written a very tightly-woven plot of revenge and self-discovery. Harriet Cleve Dufresnes is so much richer and more complex than most child characters-it's obvious that Tartt remembers the pains of being a twelve-year-old, misfit Southern girl (and so do I). The characterization of Harriet is never wasted, for she has to call upon all her talents (breath holding, patience, keen observation) to survive the terrible ordeal at the finish. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A UNIQUELY PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING IN THIS READING
Review: Donna Tartt, novelist, essayist, critic, and author of the blockbuster "The Secret History" brings a uniquely personal understanding to her reading of "The Little Friend."

A richly imagined story of familial ties and the pursuit of truth, Ms. Tartt's latest offering is sure to bring additional plaudits. No doubt, readers and listeners will find it well worth the decade long wait since Ms. Tartt's superlative debut novel. When asked why it took her ten years to write "The Little Friend," the author replied in part, "There's an expectation these days that novels - like any other consumer product - should be made on a production line, with one dropping from the conveyor belt every couple of years. But it's for every writer to decide his own pace, and the pace varies with the writer and the work.......When I was young, I was deeply struck by a piece of advice that John Gardner gave to beginning writers: 'Write as if you have all eternity.' This is the last thing a publisher or an agent or an accountant would tell you, but it's the best advice in the world if you want to write beautiful, well-made books. And that's what I want to do. I'd rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones."

It would seem that Ms. Tartt is incapable of penning even a mediocre phrase, as her latest story attests - it is compelling, and memorable.

Nine-year-old Robin Cleve Dufresnes is found dead, hanging from a tupelo tree in his family's yard. Harriet was a mere baby when her brother's body was discovered, and his killer has never been found.

The boy's death virtually destroyed his mother who has turned inward and become a recluse; his father disappeared from the community where this tragedy occurred. Thus, Harriet and another sister, Allison, have been left to grow very much on their own. Their lives have been overseen by a black maid and a coterie of female relative, including a stern grandmother.

Twelve-year-old Harriet determines to catch her brother's murderer, deciding that it is Danny Ratliff. After all he comes from a family of down-at-the-heels criminals. Harriet and her good friend, Hely, begin to stalk the Ratliffs, a tactic which leads them into great danger.

Set in 1970s Mississippi, "The Little Friend" underscores the author's considerable gifts, not the least of which are her command of language, elegant prose, and mastery of suspense.

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down -- fast enough!!
Review: If there's an award for the Most Irritating Novel of the Year, The Little Friend should win, hands down. At first, I was intrigued by Tartt's dense descriptive set-up and was curious to find out what would happen. But as I read on, I began to become disheartened as little did happen - and then I began to get the sinking feeling that nothing was ever going to happen. By the end of the 550+ pages, I was so fed up with Tartt's prose and with snotty little Harriet that I almost literally threw the book across the room. I was so frustrated, I couldn't get it away from me quick enough. An occasionally beauiful, but ultimately unsatisfying read. Tartt has not delivered on her promise of a precise, searing, grabbing new book. The Little Friend is the written equivalent of quicksand. The good news is that you CAN put it down, or throw it away, thus saving yourself the vain effort of slogging through to the bitter end. That's my advice.

Rating:
Summary: A promising beginning and then?
Review: I (like many) loved the Secret History and have read it a least a dozen times, it's like an old friend or favorite vacation spot, I put on the tea and am at Hampden College (which reminds me of the decrepit New England College that I attended in the 1980's. But, unfortunately the latest effort by Donna Tartt "The Little Friend" after having read it page after mediocre page, will be relegated to the land of uninspiring tomes collecting dust on the bookshelf. I was barely able to stand it the first time around, no use wasting heartbeats with a second reading.
The book starts out wonderfully and having waited so long for a follow up I decided to savor the book and not rush through it. The first chapter is terrific; unfortunately the remaining chapters are a total disappointment. The main character Harriet is the living example of the old phrase "The devil makes work for idle hands", although reviewers have lionized this Millennial Nancy Drew/Ramona the Brave, I found myself sympathizing with the "villains" at the end of the book. I obviously won't give away the ending, (Is there an ending in this thing?) If Donna Tartt was trying to make a point about what happens when people have too much free time on their hands then she's as much a genius as Harriet is (inside joke wait till the end), in more ways than one! 1)Harriet is the embodiment of why kids should be required to take summer school unless they have something planned for the vacation. 2)the book is a supreme example of "typing and not WRITING". I gave this book two stars for Gum (the Grandmother and matriarch of the nefarious Ratliff clan) the descriptions of her had me laughing out loud on the subway! The other characters were cliched and shallow. If there is ever to be a sequel to this book (God Forbid!) Send Harriet far away to boarding school and Flesh out Gum a bit more, she was the only interesting/funny/inspired character in this book (Libby is okay but loses her luster like a withering Magnolia Leaf after the first chapter). Finally what's with the lavish Funeral Descriptions? That's the only (sadly) similarity I found with the Secret History. If you loved the first novel, you will be disappointed by the second. I know I was. But like many rites of passage (The first day of Kindergarten, Acne, and the SAT's)this book is something that every card carrying Donna Tartt fan will just have to suffer through. And suffer you will. No hate mail from Die Hard Fans please.

Rating:
Summary: The Little Friend
Review: This is a good book for great story line. Harriet has spent her life haunted by the murer of brother,Robin, on Mother's day. Her grief-stricken family never fully recovers, so Harriet creates an imaginary world for herself. Twelve years after Robins death, She desides to find his murderer and seek revenge.
It has a lot of twist and turns. Have fun reading.

Rating:
Summary: Regardless of her past work...
Review: I know the pitfalls associated with comparing an author's second work to their first, especially since the public abhors change and wants the artist to keep producing the same art that made them so initially famous.

However, Tartt's second novel fails alone -- even if TSH had never been written, TLF still fails on several levels. It lacks focus, is in need of much editing, and the central plot isn't a strong enough thread to keep the reader interested. The characters are predictable, and there is no resolution at the end (which is fine, in some cases. Tartt is no Hitchcock, and didn't provide us with enough mini-resolutions to make up for the gaping hole at the end).

Between her first novel and her second, Ms. Tartt seems to have become seduced by her own hype. This book comes across as egotistical, and ultimately, selfish. It wasn't written for us, it seems. Only for members of the court eager to get a glimpse of the Emperor's new clothes.

Rating:
Summary: On endings and ambiguity
Review: To clarify the comment, made by many reviewers, that this novel has no resolution: I think the problem is not that Tartt fails to neatly resolve this book in traditional whodunit style--after all, The Secret History wasn't really a whodunit either, since we know from the get-go who gets killed and who kills him; the suspense of TSH comes from how the action unfolds. But even if readers don't go through The Little Friend with the goal of "finding out what happened" (that is, if we focus on aspects other than the "mystery," as the book's small contingent of fans have urged), the ending still doesn't work. It is certainly possible to write a very good novel that does not solve its own "mystery" (e.g., Tim O'Brien's "In the Lake of the Woods" comes to mind), and ambiguity can definitely provide resonance to a story (most of the great novels of the 20th century end with some sense of ambiguity). Unfortunately, that doesn't happen here. TLF's ending doesn't suggest an intrisic, thematic ambiguity. It suggests, as other reviewers have said, a writer who didn't know how to end the story, or even how to effectively move the story toward its ending. If Tartt had no intention of ever solving the mystery, that's fine, but then that unsolvability should mean something--and as readers are saying over and over again, it doesn't.

One other note: so often when a novel gets panned in the majority of its reviews, the few readers who enjoyed it will chastise everyone else by effectively saying, "Well, if you didn't enjoy this book, obviously you're only fit to read simplistic, mainstream, conventional drivel." I know you TLF lovers must feel miffed at the harsh (sometimes downright nasty) reviews, but be honest: all media hype and personal insults aside, the book has some serious flaws.

Rating:
Summary: Lousy
Review: Aren't there laws against false advertising? The Little Friend is touted as some kind of literary masterpiece/opus/mystery. What it really is is a protracted mood piece, a series of dense vignettes stuck randomly together. The author shows off her facility with words, lots and lots and lots of them. Okay, we're impressed. Great vocabulary. But does this chick know how to tell a story? Or did she accidentally leave the plot at the bank? A page turner this is not. A convoluted homage to Faulkner, Dickens, Stevenson and Harper Lee it most definitely is. But just because Miss Tartt can allude to her greater forbears does not mean this book justifies the cost, nor does it mean you will enjoy it. Big it is. Generous it is not.

Rating:
Summary: The Little Friend
Review: People who are Tartt 'devotees' because of "The Secret History" probably are too critical of her latest. "The Secret History" and "The Little Friend" are simply two very different types of stories. "The Little Friend" emerges as an interesting period piece; reminiscent of many childhoods, but adult at the same time. Had I been as precocious as Harriet Cleve Dufresenes during my adolescence, I would have delighted in pulling such an 'adult' book off the shelves.