marian’s Reviews > The Secret History > Status Update

... The image of fancy dinner parties, ivy-covered classrooms, rituals by campfire in the middle of the night, coffee, cigarettes, messy ink-written papers and the smell of old books makes me want to crawl inside that book, I can´t help it, I´ve always loved that, and I don´t just merely love the aesthetic of it all, the writing is so gorgeous and trapping and it brings a lot of moral questions.

... They might be lazy or hate work, but they love to acquire knowledge. ...

... someone with a longing for the picturesque at all costs. And the characters themselves, they are so well constructed that even if I´m aware of all the bad things that they do and their poor erratic behaviour, I can´t help but want to be one of them, consumed by their passion for knowledge, their only worry is their quest for the aesthetic (word that after reding TSH has made me feel is poor usage nowadays). ...

... I´m not exaggerating when I say that this has made me reconsider studying literature. The feelings and images the writing evokes are so viscerally beautiful. And the quotes encapsulate so much of this imagery. It´s amazing how Donna Tartt makes these highly morally dubious characters seem so “normal” and reasonable in their actions, thanks to the fact that the story is told through the lens of Richard, ...

I have a lot to say. First, even though I was very excited to read this, I tried to keep my expectations low since I have been disappointed by popular book recommendations before. I don´t want to jinx it, but needless to say, my fears were unfounded. I´m not even sure I can find the proper adjective to describe this book; it resonates so much with my passion for the classics and the beautiful...