The Secret History - Donna Tartt

With the release of 'The Goldfinch' in cinemas, I thought it was time to try reading some Donna Tartt - I started with her 1992 novel 'The Secret History'. This is a pretty large novel of around 550 pages, and I absolutely devoured it. If any of you have seen the classic film 'Dead Poets Society', this novel is reminiscent of that in many ways. 

The protagonist, Richard Papen, is a freshman at an elite New England college, who switches major early on in the first semester to study Classics - a close-knit group of five other students and their eccentric professor Julian. Richard fabricates his upbringing and appears to have led a life of wealth and luxury, far from the reality of his working-class background. The group are inseparable and at first Julian is reluctant to admit Richard to their course.

The snooty elite group comprises Edmund or 'Bunny', a bigoted self-righteous joker who lives a lavish lifestyle by sponging money from his friends when in reality he is broke; the twins Charles and Camilla who are oddly close (verging on the outright weird); Henry, who is aloof and scholarly and loves Homer and Plato; and Francis, who's remote country mansion becomes a haven for the bunch and is in some ways my favourite of the group. None of the characters are wholly likeable, but each is very interesting in their own right.

The students mostly loll around all day drinking whisky and pondering life in a poetic and melodramatic fashion - half the charm of this book is the privileged lifestyle of the students and the grandeur of the university backdrop. But the group of misfits are more than just social outsiders, they soon discover a way of thinking which leaves the boundaries of morality behind and begins to border on the fanatic and corrupt. The murderous element of the novel kept me on the edge of my seat until the final page, and once it was over I was left in stunned silence.

Tartt's writing is quirky and eccentric but so accessible - you are immediately drawn into the narrative and gripped from the outset. Her characterisation is so well developed and you really feel the characters jump off the page before you. As to the narrator, I was undecided as to his reliability - this only added to the intrigue of the story. I can't lie and say that this is a happy book, but it isn't overwhelmingly sad either - it just leaves you rather pensive. Having said that, this is certainly one of my favourite books of the year!