Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: The Secret History

Top positive review

Touched a nerve with me - absolutely stunning

Reviewed in Australia on 9 July 2014

I read this book after already being familiar with The Goldfinch and The Little Friend.
I am a classic scholar myself (rather been one 25 years ago) and the book has special appeal for me.
Tartt's books are not an easy read but they are why literature is such a marvelous art.
Her books make me wish I could read them again as for the first time...

3 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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How can Penguin put their name to this

Reviewed in Australia on 17 April 2022

So the look and feel of the book is cheap and nasty. The text is aligned to the right, so you have to practically break the spine of the book to read the text. Absolute rubbish production. But for 8 bucks, you get what you pay for.

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328 total ratings, 178 with reviews

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From Australia

How can Penguin put their name to this

Reviewed in Australia on 17 April 2022

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Dr Wayne G Reid

Terrible in every way.

Reviewed in Australia on 29 July 2020

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This was a painful read. I tried my hardest but the narration killed it for me.

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Tully

Sample Read Gives False Impresson

Reviewed in Australia on 8 May 2017

I thought i was in for a lovely treat based on the sample read - about philosophical discussions- a type of modern take on Aristotle type classroom environs. But all I got was chaos and violence! I had to stop 1/4 way through given the extreme violence and large portions that made no sense. A pity as the characters were intriguing in the sample read.

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From other countries

Charlotte

Protracted, dull and pretentious

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 June 2020

Verified Purchase

I hated this book. I read to the end as I wanted to find out what the outcome was, and all the good reviews of it had me hoping against hope that it could turn around.
It doesn't. This book is extremely dull; very little actually happens, the characters are caricatures of either American college kids or Classics scholars, and the whole story could have been wrapped-up in about a third of the time it takes to read it.

22 people found this helpful

Aapal

Boring and dull read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2022

Verified Purchase

I really didn’t enjoy this book. I begrudgingly read to the end even though I was tempted to give up around 200 pages in…all the good reviews of it had me hoping it would eventually improve or there would be a twist but it didn’t and there wasn’t.
I found it extremely boring, very little actually happens, I didn’t care about any of the characters and the whole story just waffled on and could have been reduced in size considerably and wouldn’t have lost anything of importance. What a shame…

One person found this helpful

Grace Gleeson

The only female character seemed to only exist to be loved, lusted after or fought over

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 August 2020

Verified Purchase

The only female character seemed to only exist to be loved, lusted after or fought over by the real main characters , the men. ,Very disappointing from a female writer. Writing such a throw back shallow character. It spoiled the book for me. Pity that this is still how women are portrayed even by women, a sure indicator of a writer who has internalised the sexual stereotype, that women are just good for one thing.

5 people found this helpful

Mrs. Lindsey Dines

Totally overrated

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2020

Verified Purchase

Trite and boring. I very rarely feel the desire not to complete a book but this came close. I had to skim read the last third. The characters were one dimentional and I just didn't care about them. Maybe if I had, I could have overlooked how boring the actual story was.

6 people found this helpful

Steff

Lost interest very early in this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 July 2019

Verified Purchase

Having just read and thoroughly enjoyed The Goldfinch I was looking forward to this book but it did not grab me in the first 20 pages or indeed in the first 200, I managed to stick with it until I had read 42% and then I caved in. Too slow for me, possible be of more interest if you are really into Greek Mythology, but even so, not much happens and it really drags on and on.

3 people found this helpful

DD Robinson

Long winded

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 June 2021

Verified Purchase

I’m still struggling to see the point of this story. Lots of navel gazing but ultimately tedious despite the great reviews. I was hoping for an exciting ending, or even an explanation, but it turned out to be a damp squib. Perhaps a knowledge of the American college system would have helped but I didn’t identify with the characters or enjoy their story and ended up skipping pages.

Sarah L

Did not finish

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2021

Verified Purchase

Abandoned this at 31% on my Kindle. I really wanted to like this book as it has had so many great reviews, but sadly I just could not get into it. Both boring and bizarre at the same time, I didn’t take to any of the characters, and didn’t like the story line - I wanted to quit at 20%, but not one to admit defeat, I hung in there a bit longer until I couldn’t take any more. So many good books to reward, so little time, it goes on the Did Mot Finish list - sorry.

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