Hi everyone.
I'm Rincey and this is Rincey Reads.
Today I'm going to be doing a review on THE
SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt.
I wasn't originally planning on doing a review
of this, but enough of you guys said you wanted
to hear my thoughts on it.
Now in case you guys don't know, this story
follows Richard.
He starts college in this New England university.
And he becomes really entranced by this group
of Greek students.
They are part of this like elite group who
get selected by this teacher to study Greek
and only like certain people can be a part
of it and they have like a very tight knit
group.
Richard becomes, you know, entranced with
them.
He ends up joining the study group and becoming
part of the group and then things go down.
Obviously Donna Tartt is a well-loved author,
especially on BookTube.
I went into this with semi-high expectations
thinking I would absolutely love it because
so many people rave about it.
And while I did really enjoy it, I didn't
necessarily love it.
This story starts off, like the first page
tells you that one of the characters is dead
and the other characters all were somehow
involved in this.
And then it sort of jumps back in time and
then you start from like the beginning of
the story and see how it all unfolds.
And, I don't know, I find that device kind
of just infuriating because I feel like you're
just waiting for events to happen.
And while I understand that there's a point,
it builds suspense, theoretically.
I felt like, especially in the beginning of
the story I was waiting around for a really
long time waiting to see what was going to
happen.
I felt like it took a really long time to
get to the exciting part.
It took me at least 100 pages if not more
to feel invested in these characters and the
storyline.
Sometimes I was even just thinking 'why do
I even care that this kid is dead?'
But then there was a certain part where I
felt like the story was finally starting to
pick up speed and I was super into it and
then I was really intrigued by what it seemed
to be setting up.
And then the death happens and then you follow
basically the consequences of that.
And I have to admit, as many of you guys saw
in my wrap up, I did put the book down and
then I came back to it like 2 months later.
So I don't know if that colored my view at
all.
But when I picked it back up I was totally
in the mood for it and I really felt invested.
But then it felt like it slowed down again
and as I was waiting for the story to resolve.
I did keep reading partially because I wanted
to know what was going to happen and that's
really what kept me going.
Like I honestly had no idea how this was going
to end.
And I just kept reading because I was like
'what is going to happen here?' because there's
so many possibilities and everything just
seemed so unexpected.
The writing of this book is probably more
dense than most modern literature would be.
I felt like I had an easier time reading this
book after I had been reading WAR & PEACE
for a while because that is like not my usual
standard of difficult books.
So reading this while I was reading WAR & PEACE
actually made this book seem like a pretty
easy read.
So I feel like that should let you know that
this is not a book that can be like consumed
in a week.
I mean, it can be, but I feel like the way
the story is written, like you need to take
your time with it and, for me, I would just
take it in small doses every day.
And again, that's probably has something else
to do with how I felt about the pacing of
the story.
The fact that while I was intrigued by it,
I wasn't necessarily devouring it the way
I do maybe other thrillers.
So yeah, in the end I gave this book a 4 out
of 5 stars because, again, the story in general
was really well done.
The writing is beautiful.
You know, there's a reason why everyone loves
Donna Tartt.
But I did have a lot of problems with it and
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book
for everyone.
I feel like I understand why everyone loves
it because there's a lot to love in here.
But I feel like there's also a lot of things
that could really get on people's nerves.
So if you are one of those people whose having
a hard time with the story and you just started,
I would say keep pushing through because it
does pick up.
But if you get to like part 2 and you don't
care then you're probably not going to care
period.
But if you do have any interest in this book
whatsoever I think it was completely worth
it and I feel like the story was super interesting
and I really enjoyed those aspects of it.
So yeah, those are my quick thoughts on THE
SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt.
If you've read this book feel free to leave
your comments down below letting me know what
you guys thought of it.
So yeah, that's all I have for now and thanks
for watching.
