The Secret History- Donna Tartt

 

In the age of the internet and the ever-increasing influence of social media in our lives, every once in a while the reader in me finds herself picking up a book that was unsurprisingly recommended to me through "Tik-Tok" exported reels. She goes to a bookstore with utter and all-embracing faith in the opinion of an individual living hundreds of miles away and usually, it ends badly for her. 

The Secret History is a well-known celebrity on the internet which, unfortunately, did end badly for me. It starts off with the narrator Richard Pappin describing the one and the only story he can ever tell- the story of how Bunny got murdered. When Richard lands in Vermont, a thickly forested State in the northeastern United States, his attention is caught by a group of eccentric individuals obsessed with Greek and the riches of their respective families. Soon our narrator finds himself lying his way to become a part of something that ultimately leads him to be partly responsible for murder. 

The Secret History is a heavy book with the slowest progression ever. Tartt smartly begins her plot that encapsulates your attention and has you intrigued for more. Yet twenty or so pages in, the plot seems to be stuck within the contours of its landscape, the loneliness of the narrator, and the riches of the Greek. It is a difficult read as the plot is overly lined with Greek references and to my complete horror, sentences, and phrases in Greek with no translation. The constant surfing on the internet to understand the context of a certain phrase not only proves to be tiresome but also kills the joy of holding a book in your hands. 

The plot is thick with the sensibilities of Tartt's characters yet it starts too late and ends in the blink of an eye. It is the sudden build in the plot and the conclusion that saves the book from being hated fiercely, yet not from dislike. Moral of the story, Ένας κούκος δεν φέρνει την άνοιξη.