Hi there! My name is Ani and this is Reader’s Report, where I review a book that I’ve read recently and explain exactly how I feel about it to you lovely people. I was inspired to continue these book reviews from the previous articles featured on the Hoot called “BookTok: Worth it or Not?” and since the author Victoria Morrongiello ’23 has now graduated, I am taking on the honor of continuing these reviews in some way, shape or form. 

The first ever review is on a book called “The Secret History.” This was a book that I had incessantly heard about throughout last year and I finally read it after weeks of feeling intimidated by the sheer number of pages on this thing. People talk about this novel in a way that makes you think that you’re just going to be following the adventures of these funky, dark-academic, quirky little characters. I am here to tell you that if you get past the first 200 pages of the main character thirsting over this one guy in his class, you will find out that that is most certainly not the case. 

This book was very good! Please don’t get me wrong! But oh my god I want to check on Donna Tartt’s mental health because it cannot be normal. I’m trying to figure out how to explain this plot to you without giving away the entire thing but please accept my attempt below:

Boy goes to college in woods. Boy meets normal people and weird people. Boy decides to be with weird people. Boy becomes friends with weird people. Weird people are not-so-weird. Not-so-weird? people accept him in their group. Professors do nothing (whatsoever). Not-so-weird?????? people are in fact weird as hell. Chaos ensues. Drugs. Murder. Sacrifice? I’m not even sure anymore.

I feel like you get the gist. But in all seriousness, Donna Tartt is a super cool writer and she has a very fantastical way of describing scenes in books that would otherwise be super normal. It feels like you’re reading a fantasy novel instead of a book about some weird kids in college. Also, she plays with this idea of an unreliable narrator, as Richard, the main character, is slowly being manipulated into thinking that the bad things that these other students are doing are entirely justified and make sense given their situation (they do not make sense at all, hence the unreliable part of the whole unreliable narrator thing).

Essentially, every character in this novel has some type of motivation, some more clear than others. The most interesting part of the book is watching the reveals of these motives and seeing exactly how they have shaped the characters that you’ve been reading about the whole time. The author does a really good job of maintaining the mystery behind these individuals and keeping you in the dark in the same way that the main character is. You experience the shock of everything as he does, which makes for a very interactive reading experience. 

I must admit that this book is not fast-paced for most of it. A lot of the time, you find yourself reading descriptions of people as Richard observes them, which for some can be very exhausting. One of the other characters, Henry, talks for PAGES. And I mean pages. Like three pages, to be exact. And since Richard has this weird crush on him (not actually confirmed but like, seriously), you have to listen to every word this man says. After the third time of reading one of Henry’s riveting explanations of how one of his friends threw up on his rug or how one messed up his perfectly planned sacrifice (please don’t ask me, just read it), you start to think “Did I ask?” except you did ask, because you’re the one reading. Though I must admit, there are some funny moments in these conversations, usually in the lulls when Henry stops being pretentious and acts like the 20-something he actually is and lets someone else speak. 

Just another thought: I think Richard thinks more than he speaks in this book. Which might be obvious but I mean that he’s never speaking in conversations with the weird kids. He’s like the cameraman. If the book wasn’t from his perspective, the kid would never talk.

So do I think you should read it? Yes. If not for the plot, do it for the aesthetic of dark academia as you haul this 500+ page book up the Rabb steps. So real.

Well anyway, I’ll see you next time.