The Secret History

 

Summary (from the publisher): Storytelling in the grand manner, The Secret History is a debut remarkable for its hypnotic erudition and acute psychological suspense, and for the richness of its emotions, ideas, and language. These are the confessions, years afterward, of a young man who found at a small Vermont college the life of privilege and intellect he'd long coveted - and rarely has the glorious experience of youth infatuated with knowledge and with itself been so achingly realized. Then, amazed, Richard Papen is drawn into the ultimate inner circle: five students, worldly and self-assured, selected by a charismatic classics professor to participate in the search for truth and beauty. Together they study the mysteries of ancient Greek culture and spend long weekends at an old country house, reading, boating, basking in an Indian summer that stretches late into autumn. Mesmerized by his new comrades, Richard is unaware of the crime which they have committed in his dreamy, unwitting presence. But once taken into their confidence, he and the others slowly and inevitably begin to believe in the necessity of murdering the one classmate and friend who might betray both their secret and their future. Hugely ambitious and compulsively readable, this is a chronicle of deception and complicity, of Dionysian abandon, of innocence corrupted by self-love and moral arrogance; and, finally, it is a story of guilt and responsibility. An astonishing achievement by any standard, The Secret History immediately establishes Donna Tartt as a supremely gifted novelist.

Review: Richard Papen is originally from California but through luck and determination lands a spot at a small college in Vermont called Hampden College, which could not be more different than anything he has ever known. Although initially adrift within the world of privilege and intellect, he is drawn into an inner circle of five students who study ancient Greek exclusively with a single professor. He is awed by his new classmates and too busy trying to conceal his own humble origins to put together the suspicious nature of some of their behavior until he can no longer avoid it. Once in their confidence, Richard finds himself drawn into a dark web of secrets that has his new friends convinced they must murder one of their friends to cover up an earlier crime. 

Like with all her novels, Donna Tartt is a master at character development, creating atmosphere, and building suspense. The first half of this book, where Richard stumbles through the shady paths of his New England campus, studies with his new wealthy friends, eats and drinks at exclusive restaurants, and spends weekends at their wealthy relative's country home, are intriguing and well developed. His circle of five friends - Henry, Francis, Bunny, and twins Charles and Camilla - are odd yet intelligent, privileged and unlike any other social circle Richard has ever known. 

Yet like Tartt's other novels, I was disappointed in the way the plot played out. It was difficult to believe in the youthful scholars as cold blooded killers. It was difficult to believe that Richard would go along with it merely out of gratitude and loyalty for their friendship. It was also difficult to believe they would trust Richard who comes across as secretive about his life and very distant and private in a secretive way. Their professor Julian was also a relatively enigmatic and difficult to believe character in the end. 

Eloquently written, this novel is filled with ultimately unlikeable, deeply flawed characters. I never bought that any of the students were particularly close or liked each other much at all, which put the whole premise of the plot in jeopardy. As usual, Tartt has excelled in setting up her novel with a well executed cast of characters and an intriguing setting but failed to land a plot that was satisfactory in the end. 

Stars: 3.5

Related Titles: 

• The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt