Secret History

Book Description

Critics

• Book cover: The Secret History

  The Secret History, by Donna Tartt, Alfred A Knopf, 1992, cover by Chip Kidd & Barbara de Wilde “Forceful, cerebral and impeccably controlled” was how New York Times critic, Michiko Kakutani, described Donna Tartt’s 1992 debut. The Secret History tel ... (read full critics)

  ft published on Mon, 7 Feb 2011

• Character issues

  When The Secret History was first published some reviewers complained about the novel's depiction of its leading characters, the narrator's five friends in his exclusive classics class at college: Henry, Francis, Charles, Camilla and Bunny. Self-rega ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

13 Reviews

• 3 people find this helpful

  

  read it at least three times and gave it to all my friends - all females, actually, my husband refused to read it saying it is a book for women... we all loved it. i had been waiting with trepidation for her second book, 10 years later, but "the little friend" was really disappointing - apart from t ... (continue)

  read it at least three times and gave it to all my friends - all females, actually, my husband refused to read it saying it is a book for women... we all loved it. i had been waiting with trepidation for her second book, 10 years later, but "the little friend" was really disappointing - apart from the wonderful first chapter.

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  Elsastella said on Feb 26, 2009 about the Paperback edition | 1 feedback

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  The Secret History

  The characters are all throw-backs to an earlier era (I originally thought the novel was taking place in the seventies until references to the first Gulf War placed the story somewhere in the early nineties). There are a few scenes that do little to advance the plot or develop the characters and ju ... (continue)

  The characters are all throw-backs to an earlier era (I originally thought the novel was taking place in the seventies until references to the first Gulf War placed the story somewhere in the early nineties). There are a few scenes that do little to advance the plot or develop the characters and just make the book that much longer, but overall this is a well-written and interesting study on how a select group of people react to events of extreme stress.

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  Readingrat said on Nov 6, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 1 person find this helpful

  *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

  

  I enjoyed a lot of this novel immensely but felt pretty let-down by the ending. Just didn't seem to hold-up to the tension built throughout.

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  sid_rw said on Jun 30, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

  What an incredible atmosphere! This book made me want to travel to Vermont in autumn.
  Pity about the ending - I thoroughly enjoyed the development of both the characters and the events, but I felt quite let down by the way it all, quite abruptly, finished.
  And how out of character of Henry, really. ... (continue)

  What an incredible atmosphere! This book made me want to travel to Vermont in autumn.
  Pity about the ending - I thoroughly enjoyed the development of both the characters and the events, but I felt quite let down by the way it all, quite abruptly, finished.
  And how out of character of Henry, really. I thought there might be a p.s. of some sort, but alas; hadn't it been for the too-rushed and out of place ending, it could have been a jewel of a book.

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  Ficie said on Mar 21, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  wonderful book - reminds me of the magus by john fowles

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  Rubbad0g said on Feb 13, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  I'm so sad this book finished, I wished the story could have gone on forever. I got rather attached to the characters and I desperately wanted to find out what happened from the moment I picked it up.

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  Valentine said on Dec 3, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Mass Market Paperback 512 Pages
• Edition: Reprint
• ISBN-10: 0804111359
• ISBN-13: 9780804111355
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Pub date: Jan 01, 1993
• Dimensions: 1097 mm x 710 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette and Others
• In other languages: other languages Libros en Español, Libri Italiani, Nederlandse Boeken

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