Summary Donna Tartt

What we enjoyed about the book:

• very engaging, “pleasantly surprised”
• hating all characters was the point?
• Julian a mysterious figure: cult leader? enigma? shadow figure? dangerous? at fault for Henry’s fate?
• “I loved this book”
• tragic novel, made a person feel sick and sad
• invites a reread
• pretentious students fun
• humour: “Francis is such an icon”
• book haunts you after you finish reading
• what did Henry whisper to Camilla???
• detective story inverted, fascinating
• homeric beginning: Bunny will die –> waiting for it do happen; whodunnit in reverse
• tons of plottwists
• writing style captivating, pleasant to read
• narrative situation: Richard looking back, can we trust him? Nah
• unreliable narrator
• “I liked the friendship”
• a secret kept them together, cult, are they really friends?
• class difference very interesting, made Richard more human
• very toxic relationships
• Richard as the outsider
• Can we trust Richard at all?
• winter episode terrible but told us a lot about Richard
• fairly small group, good for readers to remember who they were
• Henry: we need to know more, idealised Julian to a fault
• “morbid longing for the picturesque” – vibe
• “they’re all damaged and they all think they’ve found solace”
• money is not an obstacle for the group, only Richard is poor: yet he is the only one who manages to obtain a degree and find financial stability?
• priviledge: dark academia, the arts, philosophy, philology –> far from the mundane
• giving yourself over to pure thought clashes with Richard and his material needs
• transition when reading: I want this, dream, nightmare, reality
• rich people (in academia): “they can afford to be assholes about it”
• making the decision to kill Bunny –> paint Bunny as the villain –> Bunny also violates the aesthetics of the group
• various interpretations exist alongside each other: supernatural involvement? magic? drugs? All of it?
• Fantasy reading of it: https://www.tor.com/2022/02/04/how-donna-tartts-the-secret-history-hides-fantasy-in-plain-sight/
• Euripides: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0092 –> great tragedy, chorus in plot, Dionysus –> frenzy
• Nietzsche: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51356/51356-h/51356-h.htm
• Nietzsche –> Apollonian and Dionysian –> Apollo: rationality, order, art, msic, poetry, logic; Dionysus: wine, irrationality, chaos, passion, dance, no control
• Richard not being part of the ritual makes him twice the outsider, by killing Bunny he finally joins the group for real
• before / after structure good
• fragmented narration of the murder –> suspense
• puzzle narrative
• Bunny murder not at the end, unexpected
• 5 Act structure by Aristotle
• “Goldfinch” by Tartt: character from “Secret History” shows up, nice!
• fascination of The Occult: secret knowledged, limited access –> speaks to us –> bigger than us
• several secret histories: the group has one, the ritual is a secret too
• book about obsession

What we discussed:

• chapters too long
• everybody’s toxic
• first part was great, second part just “what the hell”
• incest part a big NO
• all female characters are horrible?
• dark academia = toxic masculinity? objectifying women?
• “I was waiting for Charles to die”
• Henry killing himself out of character?
• Richard as narrator: do we truly know what happened?
• “I liked that not everything lined up” –> question everything also frustrating
• “book made me feel extremely stupid”
• passion of the characters: extreme emotions not something we feel yet still feel jealous about?
• layers: illusion of characters but also readers
• checklist for everything gothic, sublime, romanticism
• plottwists in the end not as grand as expected (like Greek classics, for instance)
• genre limits the book a bit?
• stylistically the book could’ve been more experimental
• Richard not likeable: motivation does not always make sense — what is he not telling us? Richard an opportunist but not as obvious and disruptive as Bunny
• dark academia: white, rich men?
• no one sees Camilla as a person? Implicit criticism?

Ratings:

• 4/5 Henry deserved better
• 3/5 Julian Daddy TM Issues
• 4/5 Henry ghosts
• 4/5 Bunnies
• 5/5 Mystery pill bottles on my shelf
• 3/5 It could’ve been shorter
• 5/5 I’m toxic af and I’m proud of it
• 4/5 everybody needs therapy please
• 4/5 If we were villains was better
• 5/5 Greek sacrifices