Rating: 
Summary: FOUND A FRIEND IN THE LITTLE FRIEND
Review: Donna Tartt has become an author that I will look for from now on. "The Little Friend" had the flavor that I look for when I want to read something interesting, exciting and engrossing! This story felt comfy-cozy. It's not like so much junk that is being published these days. This piece of work is real literature, but you don't have to go back one hundred years to get it. I totally fell in love with Harriet's aunts. They were people I know. Ida, the maid, was so well depicted that I could actually see her. Gum was igenious. I didn't just read this story, I appreciated every piece of sweat and research that Ms. Tartt put into this piece of art. This story took me back, it took me forward. There was nothing that I wanted to delete or add. Here is a book that I actually would want to read again.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: Like other reviewers, I couldn't get through this book-- and as someone who did her time as an English graduate student, I have the stamina for wading through less than thrilling work. But why do it if you don't have to, especially if you're expecting something compelling? The Secret History had a much tighter plot that moved along nicely, all the while creating a real sense of menace and melancholy. It was also fun to read. Reading this, I kept on waiting for all the dense descriptive passages and hints of violence to amount to something-- reveal a secret, or build to a conclusion. It didn't. I don't think this marks me a simple-minded reader. But I do think it indicates a real problem with this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, the pain!
Review: I had sworn off negative reviews, but this long book of adverbs and meandering paragraphs, and let us not forget the additional parentheses in far too many sentences has had my reading attention for far too long! I wanted to like Harriet and her quest to find and convict her dead brother's murderer, but the book is just so flat. We have Harriet and her large family of aunts, caretakers, her absent father, the car salesman, the gross-out of all snake-handler and his boxes of snakes. Then the Ratcliffe family, and frankly the only time the pages come alive--except for the horrible snakes--is when the Ratcliffes are present. I stuck with this book until the bitter end, and the only part about the end of the book that was sweet, is that it was finally over. Now I am be free of those pesky adverbs and parentheses that Ms Tartt finds so appealing. Oh, the pain!
Rating:
Summary: One Hot Summer...
Review: To all those who felt ripped off, bored, bemused or generally let down by this book...I feel your pain, but too bad! Perhaps expectations were too high, and after a ten year hiatus, any artist risks disappointing legions of followers (As an aside, Peter Gabriel's first 'real' album in 10 years has the fans polarized; love, hate it). I very much enjoyed "The Little Friend", but the book certainly was quite different from what I expected, based on the pre-publication hype. Firstly,if anything that is as serious as this book is trumpeted as a 'murder mystery', you had better be prepared NOT to learn whodunnit. In fact, start thinking Dostoyevsky, who in all four of his greatest books used a murder as the starting point for detailed examination of his characters and the society they lived in. Ms Tartt has portrayed a set of characters in a small Southern town and all the main protagonists learn a number of hard lessons over the summmer in question...the drama is subdued,and much of what happens is unspectacular, but carries tremendous resonance. By the time I had finished Harriet's bitter Summer odyssey, I was ready to go back and re-read many of the beautifully written sections again. So, to all the naysayers - you may not like the book, but don't criticize it for being poorly written; there are many sections in the book that are wondrous and frightening.....as an example, the episodes when Harriet is holding her breath under water to the point of no return, and many others that have an hallucinatory beauty.....go find them again, and READ!
One does find out who the little friend is, but an author as sophisticated as Donna Tartt won't spell the name out for you! This is a novel that will gain in stature over time.
Rating: 
Summary: long, boring and self-indulgent!
Review: Well, what a waste of time and money (for me!) Little Friend was. Having loved Secret History, and rating it as one of my all time fave books, Little Friend was one of the MOST boring books that I have read in a long time.
I have no doubt that Donna Tartt can write, what I want to know is why she would waste her time with this self-indulget drivel? I actually thought that my book was missing it's final page, as I could not believe that after ploughing through it all, there was virtually no resolution!
If you haven't bought this, don't bother - wait until it's in the bargain basement!
Rating:
Summary: It's all down here from here
Review: Having adored her first novel (having read it at least three times and still look things up in it every now and then) it was with great excitement that I reserved an entire day to read THE LITTLE FRIEND. I was so surpremely disappointed by it: by weak characterization, the bevy of cliches, the listless, pointless plot (combersome as a beached whale,) and then that overall cheesy message in the end: all children learn that life is unsolveable, without conclusion, and so is the novel THE LITTLE FRIEND). But instead of just tossing it aside as another "Great American novel unfulfilled," I'm left with feelings of confusion. What Happened? I had the pleasure of hearing Donna Tartt speak in London. I enjoyed her; she talked a great deal about style, how important a good plot is to her, how, on this novel she really made sure that she "did the math" (constructing floorplans and blueprints for all the action, knowing the town's complete layout), how she woke in the middle of the night struck with a brilliant idea, how she refused to move on until she is "supremely happy" with a given section. Excuse me??? What????? How could THE LITTLE FRIEND be what this obviously talented writer is "supremely happy" with? The richness of the characterization of SECRET HIST is not to be found here; not a hint of that meticulous prose that transports you to another world - or, OK, if she's working with multiple POV - there isn't a single, immediate, enticing voice, not even with Harriet, who, as a child remains pretty "stock," not to mention all of the supporting characters. (One little aside: I DID like Gum; her passive-aggressive nature I find to be true, having grown up in the South myself. But she was the only jewel in a pile of coal.) Unfortunately, these criticisms can be applied to the entire novel with the exception of "The Prologue," which is the best writing of the book. It's all downhill from there. After hearing about the intense way she works (8 hours a day, every day) I find this outcome to be inexplicable. I'm stumped. (And what about that abrupt, totally off-putting ending, not even ending with the main character's POV. "She sure is...compared to you." Come on!!! You're kidding right? Where are the missing pages?) All I can say is, I'm starting to believe that old rumor. Maybe the first draft, entitled Tribulation, WAS in fact lost on the computer and she raced though this second copy disinterested, panicked, pained. Who knows. But this reader is left stumped and (because I still have pipe dreams of a better third novel) saddened indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed
Review: I don't know what happened here. Somewhere between The Secret History and The Little Friend Ms. Tartt forgot that she's supposed to be telling stories. Where is the story in this book? I actually returned it after suffering through 200 pages -- I didn't care how it ended and developed an intense dislike for Harriett. The other characters were mired in cliche, both classist and racist, and the faux-Southern Gothic writing style came across as just plain faux. Hopefully Ms. Tartt returns to the basics and concentrates on telling a good story, rather than writing florid prose for the sake of writing florid prose.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, without a plot
Review: After waiting 10 years for Donna Tartt to write another book, I alternate between being sorely disappointed in this, and vastly impressed by her beautiful prose. Though the writing is splendid, the imagery vivid, and the characters are sublimely developed, the plot plods along at an interminably slow pace, and the ending is atrocious. By the 555th page, the reader would appreciate having an ending, but Tartt refuses, merely ending the book wherever she saw fit, with absolutely no point whatsoever. This doesn't hold a candle to her debut novel, "The Secret History."
Rating:
Summary: man, oh man..
Review: the only reason i finished the book was because i KNEW, just KNEW that she (Tartt) wouldn't let me down.. however, i was wrong.. "the secret history" is my favorite book and i really can't believe how different "the little friend" turned out to be.. there's none of the same magic.. and it's definitely NOT a page turner.. on the contrary, i could barely stay awake reading it.. i'm sorely disappointed and hope that Tartt will try again and redeem herself..
Rating:
Summary: I didn't realize I had enjoyed such a bad book!
Review: Lesson learned here. This was a stay-up-late good read to me. I am so very glad I didn't see these reviews from disappointed readers before I started TLF. I might have missed out on one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I have had in a while. I thought the character development was excellent. And as for "who done it", I think it's pretty clear what the author was aiming for here... and I was not one bit let down. Just the opposite.
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