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You may have heard of The Goldfinch which was quite popular two years ago, another book by Tartt. This is an earlier novel by her and it has a similar tone and I would say some overlapping themes as well.
The story is about a young man who lives in the middle of nowhere California and wants to escape his parents and their crap marriage. He decides to transfer to a fancy private college in Vermont and can go thanks to financial aid. He ends up studying Classics with only four other students, isolating themselves from the rest of the student body.
There is murder, mystery and the investigation of conscience throughout the book. It’s smart and well-written, I very much enjoyed it.
I will say that Tartt can be a bit long-winded. The Goldfinch is over 800 pages and this novel was nearly 600, so that would be one thing a reader might want to know before diving in.
I enjoyed this book, though I hope her next book has a different voice– I found it very reminiscent of The Goldfinch, which is not necessarily a bad thing, I just hope it’s not her only thing.
Overall rating: 4/5
Open Arts Spring 2023 
I thought The Secret History was suspenseful and well-written too. I inherited the book from my daughter who had to read it last year in a freshman seminar on campus literature (I get to read all the books she brings home–this is one reason why I have so much I have to read). I found that I couldn’t put it down! I haven’t read The Goldfinch, but it’s on my long, long list!
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Looking forward to seeing whatever you get through next!! The Goldfinch is good– the protagonist reminds me of this book, too, but it’s long as heck– took me almost 2 months to get through it– worth it, but definitely a time consuming novel.
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