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Original poster

secret history,,,Donna tarrt, read it? What dis you think?

66 replies

deanychip · 12/01/2009 17:14

Im plowing on.

is it worth continuing?

OP posts:
IslingtonDi · 12/01/2009 22:40

I remember loving it, but that was about fifteen years ago... but I'm glad to have been reminded of it. Will have to give it another go and see if my 42-year-old self is as entranced as my 26ish-year-old self. I read The Little Friend, but can't remember what I thought of it, which says it all, I guess.

funnypeculiar · 12/01/2009 22:38

Just so as to be a bit different to all the marmite responses ... s'OK It grows on me actually - better for me on rereading.

janeite · 12/01/2009 22:36

I thought it was tedious, irritating rubbish, I'm afraid. I haven't read "The Little Friend".

SixSpot · 12/01/2009 22:33

Blimey, Bink - don't! I suspect that you don't switch off your critical faculties with the consummate ease I do!

Dior · 12/01/2009 18:46

I recently re-read it and loved it as much the second time!

BeckyBendyLegs · 12/01/2009 18:44

Totally loved it! It is in my Top Ten of Books of All Time. But we are all different. We are all individuals...

sleepyeyes · 12/01/2009 18:27

I loved it, read it this summer and will probably read again some time soon.

LaTrucha · 12/01/2009 18:25

Hated it. Boring, pretentious and utterly unbelievable.

WowOoo · 12/01/2009 18:25

Loved it and Little Friend.

DandyLioness · 12/01/2009 18:23

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constancereader · 12/01/2009 18:13

I loved Secret History.
I read it in one night, sitting up at a table in a flat in Edinburgh and finishing about six in the morning. I was transfixed from the beginning.

moulesfrite - I read the House at Midnight too and thought it was PANTS.

TotalChaos · 12/01/2009 18:10

bluebump - the Little Friend is very different. I thought it was brilliant the first time I read it, not quite as outstanding the second but readable enough.

moulesfrites · 12/01/2009 18:07

I also loved it and never felt that I was ploughing on - I was hooked by the first page - and if I remember correctly the the fact that Bunny is killed at the end is revealed at the very beginning? It was the why that had me hooked. I also hated the Little Friend.

I have just read a novel called The House at Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse, which has been compared to TSH, but is a pale imitation in my opinion.

bluebump · 12/01/2009 18:06

I hated the Little Friend and had bought Secret History from Oxfam at the same time and have never read it yet as I gave up on the Little Friend half way through (on my sister's advice as she'd got to the end!) Maybe i'll give it a read then after all...

lalalonglegs · 12/01/2009 18:04

deanychip - ploughing? Surely not? I could have read it one sitting. In fact, remember deliberately not getting off tube once to keep going to the end of the chapter. Fantastically gothic story and, iirc, very good stylistically as well (but haven't read it in about 14 years...).

llareggub · 12/01/2009 18:02

I loved it.

In fact, I loved it so much it is on my shelf of much loved books that get read again and again!

Hated The Little Friend. I was so disappointed by it.

NotQuiteCockney · 12/01/2009 17:57

I don't remember the Little Friend, except to remember I didn't like it. I did read it all the way through.

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 12/01/2009 17:55

I read it when I was at uni studying the politics and had to do greek philosophers - the whole Dionysus connection had me hooked was a long time ago - hope am remembering the book correctly!

chancelloroftheexCHEQUERS · 12/01/2009 17:54

I hate hate hate pretentious crap, but I absolutely loved it.

Only book that's ever made me gasp out loud (the bit with the hotel headed notepaper, if anyone recalls.)

It did take me a while to get in to.

silverfrog · 12/01/2009 17:52

another one who was hooked from the first word.

and again, I hated the Little Friend. I might try that again... maybe I'll jsut get rid - I haven't been inspired to pick it up in years, after all

CrushaGrape · 12/01/2009 17:50

I also didn't feel it required ploughing; I really loved it from the outset. I first read it around 15 years ago, and then re-read about 5 years later. Stick with it.

Wasn't so keen on The Little Friend though, and abandoned it fairly quickly; maybe I'll give it another chance this year.

squeaver · 12/01/2009 17:47

It's superb. She's written nothing as good since, thought.

LiffeyMermaid · 12/01/2009 17:46

I was hooked from the first word, so if you say you're ploughing through it........ maybe give up, because it's not as though it suddenly changes style or gets better (to my memory anyway)

KerryMumbles · 12/01/2009 17:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LiffeyMermaid · 12/01/2009 17:45

I still remember the first page for some reason, Richard's summer job in a Boca Raton book shop. I want to read it again now.