I Love My Kindle! " The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

"The Secret History" is a story told by Richard, one of an exclusive group studying Classical Greek at a university in Vermont, the sort of university that conjures images of the setting of "The Dead Poet's Society". The story tells of the group's murder of one of their peers, Bunny. We learn of Bunny's murder in the first chapter but the story is an account of events leading up to the murder and then the unravelling of the individual lives after the murder.

Each of the five remaining friends lose their lives in some way as a result of killing Bunny, a little like a typical greek tragedy. The events are quite unrealsitic and definitely melodramatic, but Tartt makes these events plausable. The reader is quickly drawn into the lives of the main characters, leading to an unsual moral dilemma. Even though we know that murder is wrong, we sympathise with the murderers more than the victum.

The novel is well written and examines the issue of literary beauty versus the actual reality of the world we live in. The disintergration of each character's mind after the death of Bunny keeps the reader turning pages. "The Secret History" has been called a psychological thriller in reverse, so if you like a good psychological thriller and well developed characters you will enjoy this novel.