“They understood not only evil, it seemed, but the extravagance of tricks with which evil presents itself as good. I felt they cut right to the heart of the matter, to the essential rottenness of the world” (547).

I love a good dark academia book, and this backlist book about a group of cultish scholars who spend their days studying esoteric literature and their nights trying to recreate bacchanal rituals—which as you can imagine, doesn’t end well—enraptured me from the beginning. This dark, twisty story is told entirely through Richard’s point of view, an older Richard reflecting on a fateful year at Hampden College in remote Vermont. Richard, an only child of working-class parents, never felt like he fit in in his California childhood, and after spending two years in a college close to home where he stumbled upon Ancient Greek studies, he transfers to Hampden in hopes to escape the misery of his home life by studying ancient literature in a bucolic setting. This decision of chance sets in motion Richard’s involvement in a murder that first year at Hampden, and it’s his telling of those events unfolding that is utterly hypnotic.

This is a story to get lost in.

Atmospheric: Like any good dark academia, this mostly takes place in small, elite liberal arts college. This one is tucked away in a remote part of Vermont and includes shrouded woods, isolating winters, gothic estates, and austere academic corners.

Anachronistic Characters: While I was aware that this small group of students is in a mostly modern time period, the book—maybe because of the insular nature of the students—seems to take place outside of time, this niche academic group who studies a dead language.

Psychologically Thrilling: Each of the characters—Richard, Charles and Camilla, Francis, Bunny, and, most especially, Henry—is someone to examine from psychological lens with their dark eccentricities and questionable morals.

Atmospheric, anachronistic characters, and psychologically thrilling, this is a perfect Fall read. ( )

Okay, erstmal würde ich sagen, es ist ein solides Buch. Gut geschrieben, spannend, verwirrend und überraschend. Hat mir gut gefallen. Es war aber jetzt nicht so besonders, wie ich dachte. Es wird im Internet sehr in die Höhe gelobt, aber ich denke es ist solide. Kann man sich geben, wenn man Bock auf ein 500 Seiten langes Buch über Mord und Totschlag hat. Aber das Ende ist bei Weitem nicht so zufriedenstellend, wie ich gehofft hatte. Auch die Dark Academia Vibes, die mir versprochen wurden hab ich jetzt nicht so gespürt. Es war vor allem am Anfang und dann immer weniger, da sich die Geschichte überhaupt nicht um die Universität dreht, sondern um den Tod. Fand ich trotzdem ein bisschen Schade. Deshalb bin ich jetzt auf 3 Sternen gelandet. Macht damit, was ihr wollt. ( )

Donna Tartt really knows how to evoke a mood and create a story that sticks with you. While the central characters of The Secret History aren't exactly what you'd call likable, they all feel so very real that I suspect I'll be thinking about them for quite sometime and that's a mark of good writing. Some reviews seemed to indicate that the book ran long, but this isn't so much a book about plot, although that is an important part of it. What it is is a book about mood and character and it helps to have the space to sit with those things in order to reach the pay offs. ( )

Ordinary guy is overwhelmed by acceptance into a strange clique of students studying Classics under an eccentric professor. He continues uncertain of his status until a confession by one member draws him into the groups dark secret. Madness segues into even darker logic.

everyone's said everything about this book already. its a banger and was great to re-read after actually going to college in New England. is it bad that Bunny's funeral is the funniest scene in the whole book? ( )