ONTD Book Club discussion

"Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last - inexorably - into evil."

I'm about 35% of the way through right now according to GR, I've been struggling with this book since February so hopefully this will be motivation to finish it!

I just don't find any of the characters particularly likable or realistic at all, so I'm not really invested in what happens to them and I kinda find myself rooting against them lol.

I'm about 35% of the way through right now according to GR, I've been struggling with this book since February so hopefully this will be motivation to finish it!

I just don't find any of the characters particularly likable or realistic at all, so I'm not really invested in what happens to them and I kinda find myself rooting against them lol.

YAY! Super excited about this :D

@Jamie

From what I've read, none of the characters are supposed to be likeable; something like horrible people do horrible things to other horrible people.

My worry is getting lost in all the Classics talk. I am definitely not versed in that literature. We shall see.

Yes I'm excited! i have my copy and need to start

and i second that, i've heard you're not supposed to like anyone

oh man, 68 person waitlist for this on paperbackswap - i'll have to see if i can get my butt to the library this week!

Reading a book where everyone is terrible is not easy for me. They'll have to entertaining enough to compensate. And I already have a copy of the book. (I wonder if anybody's up to reading Crazy Rich Asians next month?)

I will start after I finish my other book (The Goldfinch).

I'm eighth on my library's waitlist. I'm going to check on options for an ebook.

This is my favourite book. Just need to wait until the weekend so I can grab my copy from home.

Ooh I read this one a few years back. I remember really enjoying it but found it to be awfully pretentious. The writing was great and the plot was very interesting but it all felt high and mighty. I liked that I disliked all the characters, lol.

To be honest, The Raven Boys kinda reminds me of this book.

Idris wrote: "(I wonder if anybody's up to reading Crazy Ri..."

I am! Please nominate it next month.

@ Stephanie lol really? I loved the raven boys but I've been struggling with this for a while. I'm only on page 220 something and it seems like so much yet nothing has happened yet... It's just too pretentious lol, like the characters are too pretentious for me to even believe a person like that could exist, Henry particularly is ridiculous.

I also love how the narrator talks so much shit about Judy Poovey when he doesn't think too highly of himself to do drugs with her... RME

This book has been on my tbr list foreverrr and I finally picked it up now bc of the book club. And... didn't make it past 5%. I think what probably did it for me was the fountain pen they were using in the library. A fountain pen. In the 90s. (I hear that later on in the book one of them doesn't know what an ATM is)

I think this book would have been ok if it was set in like Oxford or Cambridge or something, and the characters were old money-type of people, and they were a bit excentric but not "fountain pen excentric" if you know what I mean. But these are just a bunch of American randoms who are well-off but not crazy rich*, running around a shitty college acting like they're Lord Byron's entourage. To me that makes them seem slightly deranged, instead of mysterious and alluring.

It was making be pretty annoyed, and I have limited reading time. So, I had to give up. Sorry for the DNF contribution guys.

(*I have actually read Crazy Rich Asians and couldn't help but make the comparison, since they're both about rich and beautiful people in an exclusive world. CRA is all kinds of amazing and it's kind of ridiculous how with such a huge cast of characters every one feels like a real person with real problems, while in TSH they're just ennui-filled caricatures. I would love to discuss CRA next month btw)

I'm sad that people aren't feeling this book :(

About 120 pages in and I am... kind of... loving it? Lol. I dunno, the book easily sucked me into its world. Though about 75% of the Classics references fly over my head. But the writing is stunning imo. Are we sure this is Tartt's début novel?

Henry is pretty ridiculous though. And yeah, the fountain pen scene was lol-worthy, but I think Richard's scorn and side-eye helped me get over it quickly. If the dude we're following got sucked into the weird shit so soon, then I'd be pissed. But he's clearly an outsider and I think we're meant to laugh about the fountain pens etc

OH! Also, pages 100-02, I feel like our main dude is listing off clues about something suspicious we're/he is meant to catch. (view spoiler)[Satanic rituals? (hide spoiler)]

I'm at 20% but i feel like i read a lot more than that. it's going so slow for me, will it pick up?

sorry that should be 28%.

Omfg I totally agree re: the slightly deranged characters and how this novel can't quite decide if it takes place in Vermont in the 90s or Oxford in the 50s... Richard's dorm mate mentions working out to Jane Fonda and that makes me think 70s? It's all muddled. I just picture these psychotic assholes swilling their expensive brandy sitting around in housecoats while the rest of the school gives them a wide berth. Even the dialogue is weird as hell. Bunny calling his girlfriend "old gal", I feel like I'm reading Catcher in the Rye or something.

Idk I don't feel the characters at all, the plot is slower than molasses, and I feel like the writing is more pretentious than anything. That said though, I'm 50% through this book and I paid real money for it so I'm gonna keep slogging through. Sorry to be such a downer lol.

I'm about halfway through, too. Still very much enjoying it. Although, for about 50~ pages or so I was wondering why the fuck Richard cares so much about these people. Yes, they took him in and he worships Henry, but the passage of when he would continuously call them with no response was a bit annoying.

Saying that, Tartt's description of Richard's depression during the winter was beautiful. And I was half right with my spoiler ^.

I'm going to force myself to start this one soon. I just read another boys meet at school type story, so I've been putting this one off.

Me too lol. I will totally jump in this thread after I finish my teacher/student book I'm in the middle of right now.

I actually put an interesting looking book back on the shelf at the library because it was another prep school story.

Hey @Jamie (I'm on mobile. Sorry I have no idea how we notify people that we're commenting back). I found that The Raven Boys was a more friendly and easier to consume version of The Secret History. I haven't read either books in a while but I found their overall vibes to be quite similar. It might have been the "group of boys and shit goes down" theme that made me link them.

I think I also enjoyed The Secret History because as much as it was pretentious, I really did learn a lot. I enjoyed all the Latin and fun facts thrown in-between. I'm sure if I read this book again now (I think I read it 2-3 years ago), I'd have a different opinion.

@ Stephanie ahaha I get a totally different vibe, but I can see how you relate the classic latin-y vibes with the welsh king kinda stuff from the raven boys. Things have gotten more interesting since they've finally decided to do the deed, but I'm still not really a fan of the atmosphere or characters in the book. But I'm gonna finish it, dammit!

Finally finished. All in all it was a very plodding, overall dissatisfying experience imo.

Finished this a couple of days ago. Really enjoyed it and rated it 4.5/5 in the end.

Fun fact: Tartt wrote 'The Secret History' from ages 19-21.

Also, here's a mini-discussion of Tartt looking back on TSH recently: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03nrrbm

I just started this today. I'm about 35 pages in, mostly I want to punch everyone so far.

Okay I just started this finally! Finished chapter 1.

I am enjoying it so far. I really like that one page 1 sentence 1 she's telling you Bunny's dead and they killed him so now I'm all like but whyyyyyy, I want to know what this is all about. But I know that Henry seems fucked-the-fuck-up and I love dark characters so I'm intrigued by him and his assholeyness. I agree I would want to punch these jerks in the face (MOST OF ALL THE TEACHER, omg get over yourself) but I do like reading about people that anger me so like I don't mind at all. I love the writing style at least.

Also @Jamie, my mom def had plenty of new vhs tapes of Jane Fonda workouts in the early 90s so that is actually accurate. I remember them well as that was how I first heard about her, only after did I realize that she was famous for other things besides aerobics lol

I assume that they kill Bunny because they are tired of his bad Holden Caulfield act.

I liked Bunny for all of one chapter and then he dropped the f*g bomb. I was like oh okay is this how you're gonna be

Bunny fooled me for a while too.

Bunny is such a dick about the lunch check omg!! lol sorry I am only in chapter 2 but jeez. Also I kind of like Henry? Like he's a total snobby asshole but I'm kind of into it so far.

Also, the prologue mentioned that only four of them were there to kill Bunny so I'm wondering which one is not going to participate. We know Henry and Richard do so that leaves one of the other three and I'm wondering why that person doesn't join in on the ruse and if something happens to them.

Okay so I finished chapter 3 now. I'm in the group of people that are totally loving it, lol. I'm so into Henry. Like he is absolutely ridiculous (how could he not know there was a moon landing???) but I am into his tortured stoic mysterious self. Also Bunny is a huge dick so I'm not surprised by the fact that eventually he's going to die.

I want to know what all these shenanigans are that are happening behind Richard's back. I assume it's some sort of murder club lol but I don't know.

Also I saw a thing that I liked from one of the reviews that was suggesting all the people are supposed to be a representation of the Greek gods which makes sense to me at least right off with the blonde twins being Apollo and Artemis, since the narrator already made the comparison to Camilla being Diana. And then Henry as Hades (narrator compares him to Satan). I suppose Bunny is Dionysus but I don't have enough of a read on Francis to know yet what he would be...

Wigs wrote: "Okay so I finished chapter 3 now. I'm in the group of people that are totally loving it, lol. I'm so into Henry. Like he is absolutely ridiculous (how could he not know there was a moon landing???)..."

YAASSS. Welcome to the crew 8)

Hahah Henry and the moon landing part took me out of the book for a sec and I remember saying WHAT out loud. He's ridiculous and I enjoyed him for a good portion of the book. Have you got the sense yet that Richard absolutely WORSHIPS Henry?

Oh definitely, I'm totally shipping it too lmao. I liked Henry rescuing him and such in chapter three. (sorry hopefully that's vague enough not to really be a spoiler for anyone else)

I also love Henry's disdain for Bunny. Like the optometrist excuse.

Okay I'm beginning chapter 5 now and dear god Henry everyone knows that (view spoiler)[the first rule of committing an accidental crime is NOT WRITING IT DOWN. Even in latin, oh my god.

By the way I love that it was because of a weird bacchanal in the woods like oh my god these pretentious kids would.

And the fact that it was a weird sex thing it makes me nervous that there were a set of twins involved o-o but again they would, it seems. Lannister vibes.

It is now painfully obvious why Bunny has to die because he is being a little shit about it. (hide spoiler)]

Sorry for all the posting but I do want people to talk about this with me, is it ever answered why someone as near illiterate and annoying as Bunny was allowed into this elite class, considering how snobbish Julian is?

Wigs wrote: "Sorry for all the posting but I do want people to talk about this with me, is it ever answered why someone as near illiterate and annoying as Bunny was allowed into this elite class, considering ho..."

I enjoy reading your comments!

It is answered, but it wasn't convincing IIRC.

I'm still in chapter 5 but omg I am so ready for Bunny to die, what an asshole.

what's scary is that are people like that all the time, that start to get like mean and abusive when they think their relationships are slipping and so they turn to negative methods to get attention in any way they can

Maybe I'll pick this back up after I finish The Twelve.

How far did you get? I'm a little over halfway through and def still into it. I want to draw the characters.

About a hundred pages after the halfway point is when the book started to drag for me. Had to push myself through, but luckily the writing was super lush so it wasn't too difficult. It picks up after that.

Well I'm finished! I really liked it! I think it's about a 4.5, she pulled a few punches but on the whole I really enjoyed the ride. I'm still sort of processing the ending but I can't say that it wasn't one of the possibilities of endings I was considering. (view spoiler)[I had thought Henry might kill himself because of Julian's reaction but I didn't know it was going to be in a big dramatic way. I also thought he might kill Charles first but that did not happen. There was an attempt tho, with the sleeping pills. (hide spoiler)]

I'm still sort of mad that Richard talks about Julian with such fondness because he sounds like a piece of shit. I also feel really bad for Francis in the end. (view spoiler)[(Trying to kill himself because his family is making him live straight.) (hide spoiler)] Hopefully he managed to balance his life out.

Wigs wrote: "How far did you get? I'm a little over halfway through and def still into it. I want to draw the characters."

I have been making myself read it for the last few days. I'm at 38% now. There are still 400 pages and I can't imagine what the hell she can possibly have to say in that number of pages.

Jessica wrote: "Wigs wrote: "How far did you get? I'm a little over halfway through and def still into it. I want to draw the characters."

I have been making myself read it for the last few days. I'm at 38% now. ..."

Lol well since we already know that Bunny gets murdered, he dies, and then there's all the aftermath and fallout from it.

I'm at 84% (100 pages left). I love Henry. He's a great combination of Heathcliff, Sirius Black, Count Almásy from the English Patient, and Cumberbatch's Sherlock. What can I say, I like a distant guy in a novel...

I'm on my phone, so I can't edit...

I have yet to be surprised by any of the reveals. Maybe Richard really is that dim...

Yes I loved Henry even though he's an asshole I just have a huge mental attraction to characters that are dark and antagonist-y in a bookish way.

I had sort of mixed feelings on the end but I think it fit anyway like oh well that indeed happened didn't it.

Okay, finished this afternoon. I fell asleep with only 6 pages left last night.

lol and your verdict?