Imagine yourself entering university as a timid and insecure individual, who only seeks to gain a degree in classics without being noticed at a small, quaint yet notable college in the middle of nowhere Vermont. Now imagine you find yourself chosen to enter a group of five elite scholars who appear to be your average quirky college students but end up bringing you down their slippery slope of corruption and evil. But you can’t escape, for everything they do is fascinating and mysterious. You want your brilliant colleagues to take you under their wing, yet their lives are incomprehensibly diabolical. You think you have finally won your peers’ approval when you start to question your own morality as a result of their twisted games. When you at first thought you were just a shy and boring student, you are now left questioning your wickedness as a human being. You’ve entered the crazy life of Richard; the narrator of Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History.”
The novel is a reflection of the beautiful and evil stories of Richard’s college life in Vermont. His story begins in a somewhat hopeful manner, as Richard describes his past traumatic experiences in his Californian hometown. The narrator hopes to fulfill his heart’s desires by forgetting about his lonely past and entering a new world at Hampden College. Discouraged and let down, Richard finds out that it will be pretty much impossible for him to study Greek because the prestigious classics professor named Julian has already handpicked five students for his intense program. Yet Richard finds himself chosen to become the sixth member. Exciting, right? It may seem so at first. Henry, Bunny, Francis, Charles and Camilla are brilliant students who share Richard’s affection for classics. If I were to sum up my first impression of these characters in one word, it would be bizarre. The strangeness of each of these characters is what makes this story so beautiful. Their intentions develop throughout the story, yet I still find myself curious about the true nature of each character. It’s a novel filled with mystery and secrets and all I wanted to do while reading was to understand their characters more deeply. Don’t get me wrong, most of the characters are so unlikable that you will find yourself hating them and their sick manipulative personalities. The perplexity of these students is in a weird way ravishing. You get to dig at their core, and find out what it means (for them) to be human.
What makes this story so enticing is the relatability of our narrator Richard. An individual who felt lost in his early days of university, resenting their parents for the path they set up for their child. Many students can relate to the story of someone who wants to leave their past behind and pursue their true passions. Richard’s soul wants to chase his love for Greek, which he gets the chance to study. What I love most about “The Secret History” is how observant Richard is among a group of clinically insane individuals. He does exactly what the readers are doing throughout the story: picking apart the personalities of the five other students from a distance. Tartt did an excellent job creating a relatable character in what I hope is an unrelatable plot for many. Richard is only looking for intellectual and spiritual fulfillment. He does not want to be noticed. He’s a loner. Yet he finds out so much about himself, like his own evil nature, that it puts the readers in somewhat of a trance. How a character like Richard develops in the way Tartt chose to do throughout the story is absolutely incredible.
Although very disturbing, Tartt does a good job of making the readers feel like they are one of the “chosen ones.” Who wouldn’t want to become a part of elite, prestigious intellectuals who have a secret life? The passionate, mysterious and picturesque nature of the book is what kept me allured the entire time. I felt like I was one of them. As twisted as they are, readers place themselves in the story and feel a sense of honor. I have never read a book as unique as this one. I would characterize “The Secret History” as a modern classic and, frankly, a masterpiece.
