The Secret History in Reading with Style

Jul 04, 2011 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: women, late-20th-century, 1001-books, new-england

Well, I'm disappointed to say the least. This was a great read up until somewhere just after the halfway point. At that point the author seemingly had little more story left in her. There was a dramatic moment perhaps 50 pages from the end. By that time, however, I was so tired of drugs and booze and hand-wringing that I didn't much care. I don't find "I took some sleeping pills and went to the movies" interesting.

There were inconsistencies throughout. Having never been to Vermont, I suspect I s ...more

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Jun 28, 2009 Wendy rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, 1001-books, mystery-suspense, 2018

I liked this one more than The Goldfinch. Despite the slow start, I was pretty engrossed once the murders started, and found the fall-out (especially the awkward funeral section) believable and engrossing. My biggest issues were similar to my issues with The Goldfinch: the characters are fantastically pretentious, yet not developed much beyond said pretentiousness. There's the gay one, the rich one, the pretty girl, her twin brother, and the oddball who dies in the book's first line. Still, I th ...more

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Feb 24, 2025 Bucket rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, 1001-read-all-editions, literary, friendship, life-and-death, mythology

Similar to The Goldfinch, this book could have done with 100+ fewer pages.

I found these characters and the situation far less believable than The Goldfinch, somehow. Particularly what Julian Morrow gets away with at a small college. Perhaps at a university where he's an asset in scholarship, but at a college where teaching is the key, his only having half a dozen students for multiple years would never fly.

The story withholds details and releases them slowly. I get why and it it done effectivel ...more

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