The Little Friend
by Donna Tartt
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
southern gothic fans, fans of slow pacing, fans of character development
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Read in April, 2008
This book was not what I expected at all. The cover makes you think it’s about a young girl trying to figure out who killed her little brother. That is some of what the book is about, but there is so much more. Too much in my opinion. This was one of the longest books I ever had to get through. And for the first time in several years, I almost quit reading a book. It took till the middle of the book before it became remotely interesting to me. The story is about a family. A very dysfun...more
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Read in April, 2005
I didn't adore this as much as I did The Secret History; possibly because it just simply didn't have the page turning thrill that the last book had. That doesn't mean that it's not damn impressive though, and a book that I read quite slowly in order to savour it for as long as possible.
As ever, the characterisation is wonderful. Harriet and Hely, Charlotte and Ida Rhew, Farish and Gum, Edie and Eugene were all drawn wonderfully. Complex and never really likeable, they were all still very eng...more
As ever, the characterisation is wonderful. Harriet and Hely, Charlotte and Ida Rhew, Farish and Gum, Edie and Eugene were all drawn wonderfully. Complex and never really likeable, they were all still very eng...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of southern writers looking for new material
5 stars for good storytelling. as i find myself writing more fiction, what i'm really looking for in a novel is simply good storytelling. tartt knows how to spin a tale elegantly without hype or overt cleverness, which so much contemporary literary fiction falls prey to these days.
the little friend reads like a very traditional novel & tartt's voice is very much in the lineage of the southern writers. with its two adolescent characters trying to solve a mystery in a small mississippi tow...more
the little friend reads like a very traditional novel & tartt's voice is very much in the lineage of the southern writers. with its two adolescent characters trying to solve a mystery in a small mississippi tow...more
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This is Tartt's second book, and there are only two. I read this directly after I read her fantastic debut, "The Secret History". The first novel was published in 1992, and fans had to wait over ten years for this second effort.
This is a terrific book, and it inspired in me the same voracity as "The Secret History". However, this book is certainly more laborious, more troubled than Tartt's debut. It tells many, many stories, most specifically of 12-year old Harriet Dufres...more
This is a terrific book, and it inspired in me the same voracity as "The Secret History". However, this book is certainly more laborious, more troubled than Tartt's debut. It tells many, many stories, most specifically of 12-year old Harriet Dufres...more
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Read in April, 2008
I absolutely loved what I guess could be called the 'domestic' part of this book -- Harriet's solitude, the interaction of family members and between friends, the descriptive passages that ring so true about things like a sudden rainstorm. What I didn't like as much was the fantastical (yet full of realism), violent part of the plot involving a child (near the end), though I still found it all quite readable, esp for the descriptions of the things 'around' the plot -- the rendering of feelings ...more
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Read in April, 2003
It's been a very long time since I read The Little Friend, and I only remember snatches, more like feelings, really, from certain parts of the novel. I don't feel the compulsion to read it again, as I did with The Secret History, but as with History, the prologue is a dramatic and haunting introduction and summary of the book itself. http://www.purpleglitter.com/d...
Both books begin with a...more
Both books begin with a...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
literary fiction fans
This book was the July selection for the mystery book club I belong to at Barnes & Noble. For some strange reason, it seems the book is being marketed as a mystery, which is probably why many readers don't finish it or are disappointed when they do. Beef bourguignon may be great stuff, but it could be a let down if you were expecting pizza.
Unfortunately, it me took about 300 pages (about half the book) to figure out that I wasn't reading a mystery. After that, I stopped expecting anythin...more
Unfortunately, it me took about 300 pages (about half the book) to figure out that I wasn't reading a mystery. After that, I stopped expecting anythin...more
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Currently reading this one and all I can think of is a passage from a writing-fiction manual that I read. The guy who wrote the article said that he once wrote a whole book and his publisher told him that it was good back-story, it was good for the AUTHOR to get to know his characters so when he wrote about them - they'd be 3D and real - but it wasn't necessary for the readers to know most of the stuff that was written. You can remove a lot of the bulk from that first draft, keep it to yourself,...more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
readers, especially fans of David Lynch
I can't say enough how much of a pleasant surprise this book was to me--loved it!
I was so moved by the surreal aspects of the story, the sense of place, and the strong heroine. I nearly mailed a copy to DL himself in hopes that he would eventually make it in to a film. Perhaps a'la the Barry Gifford collab for Wild At Heart.
The story essentially follows the life of a troubled family living in the South in the early 80s. The lead character, Harriet, is a 12-year old girl who believes she...more
I was so moved by the surreal aspects of the story, the sense of place, and the strong heroine. I nearly mailed a copy to DL himself in hopes that he would eventually make it in to a film. Perhaps a'la the Barry Gifford collab for Wild At Heart.
The story essentially follows the life of a troubled family living in the South in the early 80s. The lead character, Harriet, is a 12-year old girl who believes she...more
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
The Universe
This is such a great novel. I read it a few years ago, I think it was in 2004, I don't really remember now, but I know it was before I separated from Fabio since during the separation process I only read books by Chris Bojalian and books that Lauren mailed me. She didn't mail me The Little Friend, but I'm sure it is she who recommended it. Just last night, I was talking with my friend Jenna about this book (which I convinced her to read, and which she is reading now) and we were cracking up o...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
recommended to Laura by:
My momrecommends it for: People who don't mind unanswered mysteries
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
young adult to adult readers
The second novel by Donna Tarrt also deals with murder and intrigue, but in the tradition of the best literature does not make that the central thrust. This is a story about the devastation caused by a murder, in this case a child, on a family already precariously semi-dysfunctional. Seen through the eyes of a surviving sibling, the child struggles to unravel the unsolved crime on her own. In the process she experiences the range of cultural textures her southern town encompasses as well as her ...more
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Read in February, 2008
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Read in January, 2008
Well, I debated whether or not to give this book three or four stars and then settled on three because I was disappointed with the last quarter of the book. She's a great writer with really fleshed-out, interesting characters. But I thought the book was going to go somewhere else and then it just didn't feel like it lived up to its potential. Tartt had generated all of this great tension leading up to the face-off between the two central characters and then when it came, it just didn't really wo...more
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Read in January, 2003
recommends it for:
readers
I sort of want to scream when I read lukewarm reviews of this book. Admittedly, people may get the wrong idea when they read the back jacket, or the first few pages, and anticipate some sort of murder mystery thrill.
The death of Harriet's brother is merely background for her character. The skill with which Tartt explores the inner workings and thought processes of a virtually abandoned 12 year old girl whose older brother's murder has never been solved cannot be praised highly enough. Do you r...more
The death of Harriet's brother is merely background for her character. The skill with which Tartt explores the inner workings and thought processes of a virtually abandoned 12 year old girl whose older brother's murder has never been solved cannot be praised highly enough. Do you r...more
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Donna really screws the pooch on this one. She makes a very likeable character, a smart, precocious little girl in a small country town who makes enemies with a group of meth-heads while trying to solve the mystery of her 9-year-old brother's hanging when she was a baby, and turns it into a 576-page snoozefest. I eventually had to go to a library miles away and check out the audio version so I didn't have to waste my precious eyesight reading it. I read this one review where the person said t...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
people in the summer.
Donna Tartt uses her extensive knowledge of the South to create a book that isn't so much a story as a look into someone else's culture (me not being from the South). The book mainly focuses on a little girl growing up in the aftermath of her dear brother's unsolved murder, and the impact that level of tragedy can have on a family.
It took me a little while to get into it, but once I did I really enjoyed this book. It took me about a month to read it, but overall I found it very satisfyin...more
It took me a little while to get into it, but once I did I really enjoyed this book. It took me about a month to read it, but overall I found it very satisfyin...more
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Read in January, 2002
recommends it for:
anyone and everyone
This is one of the best books ever written, in my humble opinion. Donna Tartt worked on this for 10 years, and the outcome was outstanding and worth the wait. I cannot see this at a book sale without picking it up to give to someone.
The story is a fantastically gothic one of a little girl, raised in the south by her extended family of great-aunts and housekeeper, after the mysterious death of her older brother destroys her own family's will and unity. She resolves that she will find out...more
The story is a fantastically gothic one of a little girl, raised in the south by her extended family of great-aunts and housekeeper, after the mysterious death of her older brother destroys her own family's will and unity. She resolves that she will find out...more
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I loved Secret History, but I was disappointed in this novel overall, especially after waiting so many years in between books!
There were some great chapters in this book, but overall it was too long and got too deep into that weird snake-charming stuff.
Like many novels which follow a great debut, it went over the top and ruined itself. It's almost like authors get scared by too much initial success and then try too hard. An example from a completely different genre would be the Helen ...more
There were some great chapters in this book, but overall it was too long and got too deep into that weird snake-charming stuff.
Like many novels which follow a great debut, it went over the top and ruined itself. It's almost like authors get scared by too much initial success and then try too hard. An example from a completely different genre would be the Helen ...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.31 (2014 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.34 (1513 ratings) number of reviews: 316popular shelves
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"Twelve years after Robin's death, no one knew any more about how he had ended up hanged from a tree in his own yard than they had on the day it happened."
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