2024 Book Review Series: Classics Within a Classic

I had wanted to read this novel for some time, partly as a text to study while I work on my own piece, but mainly because of its reputation as a modern classic. The sheer size of it from front cover to back made me put it off for a few months, but I finally picked it up in April of this year (can you tell it's been a while since I've found the time to blog?). Now that I've finished all 550+ pages, I feel silly for having thought I could emulate what Donna Tartt creates in this renowned text.

Tartt's The Secret History truly brings together classic and modern styles. It follows a group of six Classics students at Hampden College in Vermont and is narrated by the most recent member of the clique, Richard Papen. From the first page, the reader knows that the story's events will result in the group's murdering one of its members, Edmund (Bunny) Corcoran. What the reader doesn't know, and what is revealed painstakingly over many hundreds of pages, is how Bunny dies, why it happens, and what comes next for the group.

As one reads The Secret History, they will no doubt come across passages and events that do not feel particularly important to the plot or character development. What they are vital to is the voice and style. Tartt writes in long sentences that sometimes last a paragraph and long paragraphs that sometimes span a page. She uses vocabulary of a high register and describes seemingly insignificant character interactions as if they are the most interesting conversations to ever take place. She does this because her characters genuinely believe everything that happens to them is of utmost importance and because, without these elements, The Secret History could not be deemed a modern classic. Adopting characteristics of Classic language and literature in a text that so heavily involves the study of these subjects is not only the most obvious choice, but I believe also a necessary one.

I rated this novel a full five stars but despite my thorough appreciation of this text, I will acknowledge what is one of its largest criticisms: the lack of character. Each of the six clique members has their own quirks but, for young adults, their voices are robotic, polished, logical - classic. While I find this choice fitting for the style of the piece, I can't deny the little voice in the back of my head reminding me that even the poshest of college students do not speak like Tartt's characters. 550 pages is enough to acclimatize the reader to these voices, but it takes some getting used to.

Having read other reviews of it, what I find most interesting about The Secret History is that those who adore and those who despise this novel have a lot in common. It's long, it's challenging, and, undeniably, it's annoying (though I would argue it's annoyingly smart). Love it or hate it, we all have to respect it as a modern classic.