|
 
$4.95
Used Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editions
The Secret Historyby Donna Tartt
AwardsA New York Times Notable Book
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Richard Papen arrived at Hampden College in New England and was quickly seduced by an elite group of five students, all Greek scholars, all worldly, self-assured, and, at first glance, all highly unapproachable. As Richard is drawn into their inner circle, he learns a terrifying secret that binds them to one another...a secret about an incident in the woods in the dead of night where an ancient rite was brought to brutal life...and led to a gruesome death. And that was just the beginning.... Review:"Powerful....Enthrallling....A ferociously well-paced entertainment." The New York Times Review:"A smart, craftsman-like, viscerally compelling novel." Time Review:"Entertaining, evocative first novel." Publishers Weekly Review:"[A] work of occasionally irritating pretension that is mostly redeemed by its simple virtue as a gripping read....Where it parts company with even the best of its campus colleagues is in the clever evolution of its first-person telling, its many magnificent pages of description and its refusal to let the parochial environs of its setting limit the exploration of its characters." Andrew Rosenheim, The New York Times Book Review Review:"[W]ell-written....The book's many allusions, both literary and classical...fail to provide the deeper resonance of such works as Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. Ultimately, it works best as a psychological thriller." Library Journal Review:"[A]n elaborately conceived and artistically ambitious thriller....Tartt records the aftereffects of unpunished crime with great skill. But her efforts to transform a chronicle of suspense into a study in sensibility are less successful....Tartt offers the aroma of decadence, not its anatomy; stylish intimations of misbehavior, not visions of hell." The New Republic Review:"One of the best American college novels to come along since John Knowles's A Seperate Peace....Immensely entertaining." Houston Chronicle Review:"A great, dense, disturbing story, wonderfully told." Cosmopolitan Review:"Donna Tartt is clearly a gifted writer....She has the ability to leave her literary contemporaries standing in the road." The Miami Herald Review:"[P]recious, way-too-long, and utterly unsuspenseful....By telegraphing the murders, Tartt wants us to be continually horrified at these kids — while inviting us to semi-enjoy their manneristic fetishes and refined tastes. This ersatz-Fitzgerald mix of moralizing and mirror-looking...is very 80's — and in Tartt's strenuous version already seems dated, formulaic." Kirkus Reviews Review:"An accomplished psychological thriller....Absolutely chilling....Tartt has a stunning command of the lyrical." The Village Voice Review:"A thinking-person's thriller....Think Lord of the Flies, then The Rules of Attraction....The Secret History combines a bit of both — the unmistakable whiff of evil from William Golding's classic and the mad recklessness of priviledged youth from Bret Easton Ellis's novel of the '80s....As stony and chilling as any Greek tragedian ever plumbed." New York Newsday Review:"Tartt's voice is unlike that of any of her contemporaries. Her beautiful language, intricate plotting, fascinating characters, and intellectual energy make her debut by far the most interesting work yet from her generation." The Boston Globe Review:"Beautifully written, suspenseful from start to finish." Vogue Review:"The Secret History implicates the reader in a conspiracy which begins in bucolic enchantment and ends exactly where it must — though a less gifted or fearless writer would never have been able to imagine such a rich skein of consequence. Donna Tartt has written a mesmerizing and powerful novel." Jay McInerney Review:"Donna Tartt has a real shot at becoming her generation's Edgar Allan Poe....The Secret History pulses like a telltale heart on steroids." Glamour What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!Average customer rating based on 2 comments: 
View all 2 commentsProduct Details
Other books you might like
Related SubjectsFiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z Fiction and Poetry » Mystery » A to Z
|
|||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
Follow us on...
|
||||||||||
Don't Miss
