From the Bookshelf of Sharing Thoughts about Books with Others (STBO)…

The Secret History

Donna Tartt

Start date: May 17, 2021

Finish date: May 17, 2021

Discussion: Monthly Group Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: Contemporary Adult Fiction or Contemporary Young Adult Fiction group book discussion for May 2021
(winner …more
[close] Contemporary Adult Fiction or Contemporary Young Adult Fiction group book discussion for May 2021
(winner is a tie between The Secret History and The Fault in Our Stars)

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 22 topics — 234 comments total

Monthly Group Book Discussions

* The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Official book discussion for Nov 1 to Nov 30, 2021
By Richard Kenne… · 10 posts · 47 views

last updated Nov 17, 2021 03:52AM

* Normal People by Sally Rooney - Optional book discussion for Nov 1 to Nov 30, 2021
By Richard Kenne… · 7 posts · 49 views

last updated Jan 25, 2022 06:03PM

What Members Thought

Jan 21, 2021 Emilija rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Znate ono kad vam svidi pričaju da je nešto dobro i vi im ne verujete, pa onda odlučite da sami to probate i shvatite da je još bolje nego što drugi kažu? To je za mene ova knjiga.

8 likes · Like · see review

Dec 16, 2019 Mariam rated it it was amazing

How do you go back into the world after touching the sublime? The Book as a whole is an experience in the sublime. Drawn into his world that is so picturesque and so out of this world.
On the first meeting, the greek group is attractive. They are so refined they are barely human. They are above us, flawed mortals. So dreamy so charming and it brings the feeling of wanting to be part of them. Wanting to be part of something big.
Of course, It is a performance, only a theatrical performance; All s How do you go back into the world after touching the sublime? The Book as a whole is an experience in the sublime. Drawn into his world that is so picturesque and so out of this world.
On the first meeting, the greek group is attractive. They are so refined they are barely human. They are above us, flawed mortals. So dreamy so charming and it brings the feeling of wanting to be part of them. Wanting to be part of something big.
Of course, It is a performance, only a theatrical performance; All smoke and mirrors; So elegant so charming. But then the curtains are lifted, and we are horrified by what is behind. it is a shock to suddenly be thrust into the reality of who they really are even though we were given hints of it; it felt like Ice cold water to the face.

The quiet waters run deep and here there is another world underwater, a corrupt, rotten world of the ugliest human emotions, bleeding red and black. The characters are extreme in their corruption as they were in their elegance. Like a pendulum.
Richard words it perfectly by the end of the book, he said,“ my own fatal tendency [was] to try to make interesting people good” We and Richard wanted so much to believe in our own illusion that we created this aura around them. So, can we blame them when we are disappointed? They never promised us goodness they were just a mystery and we wanted so much to believe in it.
Their extremes are contrasted with characters who are just so ordinary so average. for someone chasing the sublime normal is boring because it is just so average. however, these common people, lacking the heightened sense of beauty, sophistication are good people. For examples Judy and Sophie. Wouldn’t be defined as interesting maybe as they are comparatively lackluster but they are living a normal life, partying, caring about others.

Richard's contact with the group is his contact with the sublime. He leaves behind the ordinary people like him and his friends from the dorm and he becomes so isolated from real life into this magical illusion that he wants so desperately to be true. despite getting so close there has always been a line he has been unable to cross. Some barrier that still set him apart from the group and renders him terribly lonely. He is desperate to belong. to feel like he is part of this big thing, but he is always cast out, never quite reaching them and its so heartbreakingly lonely; To be surrounded by everything he has ever wanted and still be a little out of place. Perfectly when he got shot and no one paid any attention to him. So, agonizing so terribly terribly sad. No matter what he does, how far he goes, he will always be a little skewed out of place. He is unable to break through their emotional barriers. He does so much for henry, begging for their affection and attention. He wants to be part of the big plan, helping them, he imagined that shared experience would be the strongest binding thing. he went through that experience and ran to help them with killing bunny. However, at the end of the day, after experiencing his first murder for them when he calls Francis begging for support he finds him and henry drinking together and Henry ices him out again, he is so dismissive of him giving him some stupid advice about thinking in another language.
There are so many sad scenes in the book however surprisingly one of the scenes that broke my heart is when Charles and Richard are talking about after college. Charles says that they all might move into Francis’ country house and Richard assumes that he now part of the group and in his mind, it is a given that he is part of this “us” but then Charles finishes talking and asks him “ what about you? What are you going to do after college? And Richard is confused before his heart sinks. For some reason, this scene struck me as so horribly sad. He assumed that after keeping their life-shattering secret he is now really part of the group. He has somewhere to belong. That he now has a family that he chose.
He is the sanest of them maybe because he is ordinary. The most ordinary watching this group. The Greek group is sublime. They are picturesque but so terror striking.
He tried to define himself in terms of the group and because he was constantly iced out, he has always had a bit of himself that he never really grasped. If only he understood that he has been the most self-aware out of the group, that He was the least self-destructive, the least psychotic. He is ordinary. It might be boring and less dramatic, but it is real and solid, and he graduated and had a girlfriend and lived on this average ordinary life. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 10, 2021 eda rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2023-highlights

Tartt’s prose is beautiful and captivating to read. It feels like art. 4.5 stars

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 09, 2014 Sheida rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

I can't form coherent thoughts about this book right now. I feel like I just read a very important book with extremely fascinating characters and I'd give it a 5/5 if it wasnt for the fact that I was slightly underwhelmed by the first "reveal" and the story about how it all happened. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 13, 2023 Hannah Garcia Sadler rated it really liked it

I loved the approach to the plot in this book. The beginning of the novel gives away what will happen; yet, we know none of the characters, immediately pulling the reader in. Tart’s ability to timely and methodically release enough details to the reader is *chef’s kiss* 💋

The characters themselves are complex and unlikeable. I wanted to bully them for their haughty ways and superiority. Even Richard calls it out near the end of the book confirming for me how intentional their unlikeabilty was on ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2023 Kat Antanavi rated it really liked it

This was incredibly pretentious and I loved it.

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 11, 2022 Aicha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dark-academia

Ever watched Riot Club?

this book is riot club with different setting, different characters, and classics basically.
The Greek references are what held this book together (let's not lie xD)
Donna Tartt's style is impeccable. what's your muse :") I wanna know!

Alssso, unpopular opinion right here. but I might have enjoyed Different Class slightly better? Maaaybe? I donnow, not sure. the memory of The Secret History is all too vivid. (bare in mind that I only read the second book of Malbry #2 and I ...more

Like · see review

Apr 04, 2023 Yara rated it liked it

I finished this book with a huge headache, mostly because I started it so slow then flew through it unexpectedly because I could not put the book down.
Now, I don’t even know where to start. Richard is narrating the “secret history” and, of course he’s an unreliable narrator which I did not realize until I finished the book. Throughout this entire experience I put my full trust in Richard, despite his awful characteristics leaking through more than once. Isn’t it funny? It’s the same thing he did ...more

Like · see review