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The Secret History | 
 enlarge | Author: Donna Tartt
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd., London
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £8.98 (100%)
New (34) Used (66) from £0.01
Rating:  166 reviews
Sales Rank: 1523
Media: Paperback
Pages: 640
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0140167773
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780140167771
ASIN: 0140167773
Publication Date: July 1, 1993
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: DESPATCHED FROM UK, BOOKS SHIPPED DAILY.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 161 more reviews...
 Wonderful August 11, 2008
J. Palmer (UK)
This book was recommended by the staff at my local Waterstones, and short on inspiration for something to read, I picked it up. My relatively low expectations had little to do with how much I loved this book.
It is at once, gripping, beautifully written, interesting, engaging while managing that most elusive of qualities.. It's a page turner. Try putting it down, I couldn't.
The perfect book? Maybe, I certainly can't fault it. It lacks nothing.
 Did I read the same book?? July 3, 2008
Sedef Imer
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I am baffled by the overwhelming number of positive reviews for this rather middle-of-the-road literary fiction... So much so that I ended up wondering if I read the same book as all the other reviewers who are absolutely raving about it! Sure, it is reasonably well written, the storytelling engaging if a little simplistic, and the characters are interesting (though somewhat caricature like and two-dimensional), but saying that it is THE book of all times - I mean, come on! Thanks, but no thanks.
Wonderful! June 30, 2008
James (London)
This book is truly gripping. I could hardly put it down! One of the best books I have ever read!
Oh, it's so truly addictive! May 12, 2008
Ell-Jay (Birmingham, UK)
Oh, it's so truly addictive!
It was actually a little distressing when there were times I wasn't able to read it. If I had known, I would have saved it for a weekend off so that it could not be interrupted by work. Growl at people if they approach you while you're reading, and they will soon learn to leave you in peace.
Intelligent, superior but very readable April 23, 2008
Ed Foy (Ireland)
Appearances are frequently deceptive, and none more so than in the case of Donna Tarts magnificent- `the secret history'. The authors name makes one immediately think of a trashy 'chick lit' novel but nothing could be further than the truth. Tart writes with panache and reinvents the Greek tragedy for the modern age and places it in a leafy New England campus.
Richard, the narrator in the novel, confesses early that his fatal flaw is the desire to love beautiful and romantic surroundings. In fact, this novel shows us that we are all rather guilty of this and in addition, seeing romance in all things and people. The narrator is a humble everyman from California in an exclusive College in Vermont. He is alone in this strange new world but relishes the grand surroundings, though he is, like us, little more than a spectator in a beautiful scene. By a mixture of luck and a good grounding in ancient Greek grammar, he manages to ingratiate himself with a bunch of students of Ancient Greek. This clique is taught by the enigmatic Julian Marrows whose methods are unorthodox to modern eyes and yet traditional in the ways of Plato and Aristotle.
The whole key of this novel lies in our narrator's ability to make us like the group of students that consists of an inseparable twin brother and sister, effete inheritor of old money, Asperger like linguist of genus and a parasitic all-American. Richard becomes seduced by the motley crew and becomes their ally, aid, accomplice, companion and perhaps even friend. In turn, we become seduced too by the verdant splendour of the campus and cool intellectual sophistication of the students. However, all is not as it seems. The group are no new Athenians, if anything, they are similar to the imperfect old one and we soon see that the individuals in the group are as damaged and as they are eccentric. The other students that Richard is keen to avoid are, if anything, a lot more levelheaded and realistic; but Richard is romantic and easily led and follows them to hell or is that Hades. The misdemeanours lead to extortion, which leads to the cold-blooded murder of one of the gang. Yet as their teacher Julian says, something is only a sin if its regretted. Despite the apparent cold bloodedness of the group- they obviously do regret the murder- the cringworthy realistic scenes of the funeral would be fit to cause regret in the most cold of psychopaths. The result is the slow and steady disintegration of the class as a group and as individuals. Towards the end of the book we are made aware of the extent to the individual damage that is present in each of the characters- the stoic teacher Julian included. In a superb epilogue Tart closes up all the loose ends and tells us what happened them all. Their outcome is far from happy but then again this is a tragedy in the full sense of the word and the reason the novel works is that we are, no more than the narrator, seduced into a romantic view of the world and the false belief that appearances are deceptive. Alas appearances- or at least first appearances are n't that deceptive in this book. This is one of that elite and rare breed of books- the type that is destined to become a modern classic.
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