The Secret History

By Donna Tartt

Genre: Dark Academia

Wow, where do I start This has been on my tbr for many years. I recently dusted it off because it was all over Booktok, but I still couldn’t bring myself to read it. I was worried that it would not live up to all the hype, and the amount of fans that go after anyone with valid/constructive criticism about the novel, made it low on my priority list. Then, I suggested it to my book club, even though it isn’t our typical club read, and I am glad I was able to read and discuss it with my friend Lisette.
For the entirety of Book 1, I thought everyone that had ever given a positive review about this book had lost all sense. It was brutal to get through. It wasn’t bad writing at all, Tartt’s prose is exceptional, but the pace was so slow and there were many aspects that didn’t help the plot for me in any way and could have been left out. I tandem read this because it was so slow I couldn’t manage to read more than 15-20 pages at a time. Then, when I FINALLY got to Book 2, I finished it in less than 2 days; it was much faster-paced, and I couldn’t put it down. I think it is important to note that this was Tartt’s first book, so the writing was not going to be perfect, and I know that I have had to hone my writing skills over the years, because I have always tended to add too much detail, and added fluff where it didn’t need to be added.
Before I go any further, I want to state that I initially didn’t rate the book because the racial slurs were SO FUCKED UP. I do realize this book was released decades ago when white people still thought it was okay to use racial slurs in their novels because it is not them actually “saying” it as a person and it’s to point out that its bad, but no…just no. It’s not okay and the character who used the slurs was awful enough without them, I didn’t need the author to have him use that language to convince me further, and it didn’t help the plot along in any way. If anything it was so jarring it took me out of the story for a bit and I couldn’t even continue reading for a couple of days, but as a an avid critiquer/theorist I really wanted to finish the book for final thoughts.
The structure of Book 2, and the way the ending had me thinking about these characters for weeks…Tartt really had to ruin it with all the racism and homophobia in this book. I do understand the chokehold this story has on people. What I will never understand is how people romanticize the characters(they’re completely insufferable from page one), or how anyone can begin to excuse the racial and homophobic slurs. I don’t plan on reading any more of Tartt’s works as of now, unless this comes up for academic purposes; as such, I have no interest in doing any further deep diving into who she is as a person, so I will defer to others who have covered the topic more extensively and will drop some links below that provide more info on all the things she got wrong. I so wish she had addressed these issues, so that she could take accountability and grown from this, alas, I’ve yet to come across any info saying she has done this.

https://www.themarysue.com/dark-academia-should-exist-beyond-donna-tartts-the-secret-history-and-racist-tropes/

https://linguisticty.tumblr.com/post/645023066376847360/kill-your-darling-or-we-need-to-adress-donna