Good gravy! What a book!
Have you read this? If you have, can we talk?
This book reads like Agatha Christie hired Edgar Allen Poe, Franz Kafka, and a few characters from The Great Gatsby to write one of her murder mysteries — all while Sophocles and Plato were in the corner of the room smoking and making snide remarks.
The writing is bonkers good. The characters are absolutely absorbing.
I kind of want to go back and read it all again.
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Genre: Literary fiction that is also somehow mass market.
Format: Audible listen while I was folding laundry for 22 hours and 3 minutes.
Read It If: You miss feeling like you’re in college. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat and also make you feel like you’re forgetting to turn something in to your professor.
Steer Clear If: You don’t have the stomach for 1980s racism, bigotry, misogyny. Or you’re not very good at suspending disbelief.
Would I Recommend this to My Parents: No.
Bonus: I can’t get enough of Book Riot — and their new podcast, Zero to Well-Read, did a great episode on The Secret History. Definitely recommend you listen after reading. (Or before, if you’re into knowing a lot about a book before committing.)
I read it around the time it came out so I don’t remember much. As I recall I was objectively impressed with the writing, and found myself immersed in an environment that felt very foreign and uncomfortable to me. I still feel unsettled and uneasy when I think about it, so I’d consider that effective story telling.
A reader I follow on Goodreads mentioned giving up on it in the past, but revisiting it now and being blown away. I’ll have to see if the podcast sparks renewed interest for me.