Read With Us: The Secret History Discussion
At long last (seriously, it seems like FOREVER ago that we first started promoting this book) it’s discussion day for The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
The thing I hear over and over again about this book is that people love the story, love the setting, love the writing . . . and hate the characters. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone have a bit of compassion for these college students. No one ever mentions them being relatable or understandable or even remotely likable.
And yet the book is beloved. Wildly popular still even though it was published over 30 years ago. I find it fascinating and I want to know: How can a book with such unlikable characters be a book that is so revered?
I have some theories and I’m sure we’ll touch on them tonight in our Zoom discussion (it’s not too late to join if you’re interested, just let me know in the comments) but for now I hope you will answer this question and share your thoughts.
Please also visit Bonny and Kym‘s blogs today to get involved with the discussions there, too.
And hopefully I will see you tonight for our live discussions at 7pm.
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I have thought about this a lot, Carole. Why did I enjoy this novel so much (twice!!) with such really horrible characters? Perhaps it is because I have horrible bits myself, but I (think) I control them. There is something quite stunning in how well Tartt shows how easy it is for those horrible tendencies to grow in a group that does nothing to alter it. (Think Nazi Germany, the KKK, etc.) I have read lots of books about “others” who have been truly horrible, but these students hit home in a way that is somehow different… perhaps closer to home.
With The Secret History, Donna Tartt showed me that . . . it isn’t necessary to LIKE anyone in literature and, in fact, it’s okay to enjoy a book full of awful characters. I think most readers “need” to identify with a character in order to feel comfortable with a book. Just like I think most readers “need” a tidy ending to feel comfortable with a book. But literature-as-Art (with a capital A) doesn’t always have heroes or likeable characters or tidy endings. And I think The Secret History is THAT . . . literature-as-Art.
I also think most people can’t look away from train wrecks. So there you go.
I agree that most folks cannot look away from the train wreck (literally and figuratively). I found the characters just horrible and the story not much better, yet Tartt’s writing is so magnificent that it draws you in.
This is a terrific question, Carole, and one of the big reasons why I’m anxious for our discussion tonight. If I met these characters in real life, I would turn them in to the police and get as far away from them as possible, but I’m still fascinated by a novel about them. We never really hear how other students at Hampden view them, but I have to think that they were seen as strange, privileged, intellectually elite, and cruel. I think Donna Tartt has a great capacity for presenting them to the reader with deep, intimate access to their thoughts, weaknesses, and justifications, making them intriguing because of their flaws. With Richard as the narrator, we are shown a romanticized view, so we can see that he admires the rest of the group even as we’re disgusted by them as human beings. She explores their psychological unravelings so we’re treated to all of their paranoia, guilt, and eventual downfall. I can’t think of another book that I have read that does all of this so well.
I think it kept me reading because I wanted to know what happened about the murder but I also wanted to know how it all ended. Even with the characters that were just so unlikeable it seemed like at certain times some of them were liked by people outside of their little group.
Not that it excuses anyone’s behavior, but I think many people think of college students as adults and forget that the brain isn’t fully developed until the mid-20s. I think Henry is an exception, but for the most part, I don’t think these kids were setting out to be evil and were trapped by their circumstances and the poor choices they made.