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The first time I read the book I was stunned that a debut novelist could write such incredibly detailed characters. They just jump off the page. By the second

The first time I read the book I was stunned that a debut novelist could write such incredibly detailed characters. They just jump off the page. By the second time I had researched Tartt's life (as the article says...she's almost Pynchon-esque in that she doesn't reveal much in public) and knew that it was based on actual people she had known in college (with Tartt herself as the gender-swapped protagonist). By the third time I didn't care anymore and just read it because it's such a unique experience. As someone else said upstream it's not a murder mystery...it's a character study that happens to have murders. The absolute best time to read this would be around 16-24 or so...but it would be interesting to hear the perspective of a first time reader at your age.

cgh 4y ago
Exactly, I read it right around when I was finishing university. Because of a large theatre studies department, mysterious black-clad, chain-smoking girls stamped from the Donna Tartt mould were constantly wafting around the place. So this book came along at the right time. Like a lot of things I enjoyed at that age, I've been hesitant to revisit it because I'm afraid it's actually a pretentious and self-absorbed product of its time, not unlike those theatre students. I have no idea what it would be like to experience a book like that as an actual adult.
- quesera 4y ago
  > I'm afraid it's actually a pretentious and self-absorbed product of its time This is closer to where I landed, FWIW. I read John Irving in those critical early 20's years, when elite cold-weather academic settings and the quirky complicated people that inhabit them was my vida loca. I enjoyed his books. I read The Secret History a decade later, and it felt like a very well-written soap opera. She wrote the book while she was in college, so it would be unkind to judge harshly! But it was neither interesting enough (OMG these people again?), nor entertaining enough (she takes her story pretty seriously), to leave a lasting impression on me. John Irving left me with an indelible memory of a stuffed armadillo. And a lesson of what not to do while sitting in a car parked in a driveway. ... Related recommendations ... If you enjoy well-written coming-of-age stories set in elite cold-weather academia, I think Susan Choi's My Education stands up to reading in actual adulthood. If you like John Irving but have no special affinity for the ECWA milieu, Tom Robbins is great fun.
  - randomcarbloke 4y ago
    Hard disagree, it may be pretentious but Tartt's writing is immaculate, one of few first rate contemporary authors. The unflinching and unreliable insight into shared delusion and how being caught up in an imagined Greek tale distorts reality and perception of humanity. It truly is a tragedy. Compare it to the contemporaries it has spawned/influenced - all trite genre lit evoking those dire theatre kids from college (losers, not pretentious in my experience).

cgh 4y ago

Exactly, I read it right around when I was finishing university. Because of a large theatre studies department, mysterious black-clad, chain-smoking girls stamped from the Donna Tartt mould were constantly wafting around the place. So this book came along at the right time. Like a lot of things I enjoyed at that age, I've been hesitant to revisit it because I'm afraid it's actually a pretentious and self-absorbed product of its time, not unlike those theatre students. I have no idea what it would be like to experience a book like that as an actual adult.

quesera 4y ago
> I'm afraid it's actually a pretentious and self-absorbed product of its time This is closer to where I landed, FWIW. I read John Irving in those critical early 20's years, when elite cold-weather academic settings and the quirky complicated people that inhabit them was my vida loca. I enjoyed his books. I read The Secret History a decade later, and it felt like a very well-written soap opera. She wrote the book while she was in college, so it would be unkind to judge harshly! But it was neither interesting enough (OMG these people again?), nor entertaining enough (she takes her story pretty seriously), to leave a lasting impression on me. John Irving left me with an indelible memory of a stuffed armadillo. And a lesson of what not to do while sitting in a car parked in a driveway. ... Related recommendations ... If you enjoy well-written coming-of-age stories set in elite cold-weather academia, I think Susan Choi's My Education stands up to reading in actual adulthood. If you like John Irving but have no special affinity for the ECWA milieu, Tom Robbins is great fun.
- randomcarbloke 4y ago
  Hard disagree, it may be pretentious but Tartt's writing is immaculate, one of few first rate contemporary authors. The unflinching and unreliable insight into shared delusion and how being caught up in an imagined Greek tale distorts reality and perception of humanity. It truly is a tragedy. Compare it to the contemporaries it has spawned/influenced - all trite genre lit evoking those dire theatre kids from college (losers, not pretentious in my experience).