Donna Tartt's The Secret History

an intelligent thriller, but also a serious literary work. i recommend it to anyone who enjoys good writing

Strangely enough I didn't like the Secret History when it was first released, and I only picked up this book because of all the advance press surrounding Ms Tartt's new novel. And now I'm a fan. Which is not, as far as I know, the job of literary criticism - but then this book is not quite lit crit, it's an odd combination of scholarship and enthusiasm that works surprisingly well. It's persuaded me that the Secret History is a much cleverer book than I gave it credit for, and it's made me marvel at Ms Tartt's erudition. (On the strength of this volume, I picked up the same publisher's guide to American Psycho, and that one is even better.) Right, I'm off to read the Little Friend.

Wasn't sure what to expect from this - a reader's guide makes it sound like it could be some patronising crap. But it's actually very smart, and even though I thought I knew it all about TSH, it turns out I didn't. Having said that, the author, Ms Hargreaves, missed out a few things, but maybe she didn't have room? Anyhow, she is very good on all the literary references in TSH, especially the Classical stuff. She regurgitates the most interesting parts of DT's printed interviews (shame she couldn't get a new one for this book, but not surprising I guess!), and I came away even more convinced of what a weird, wonderful one-off novel TSH is. Which makes me terrified that DT's new one will suck, but we'll have to see...Definitely recommended, unless you really do know everything about the book already!