And these people are not two dimensional.

Structured as an outsider's memoir by a writer, now years older, looking back to an earlier time in his life, it mixes morality play, philosophical speculations, a witty critique of mores and class - to name a few of its perspectives - and does so without sacrificing the creation of characters that are vividly present and alive. Sure, at times it is uneven, but it is also a book that left me feeling bereft when I finished it. Like all the best works of fiction, it expands from its premise to become a richly imagined, unique world of its own. True enough, but it's also so much more than that. At its base narrative level it has been characterized as a sort of superior murder conspiracy thriller playing out in the context of elite scholarship and mysterious alliances at a small New England college. Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?įor anyone interested in the art of writing and the engagement of the reader's imagination this book is a must. but have a listen to the sample first to make sure you're happy as it is quite a long book. I too have listened to the Adam Sims version, and whilst it is undoubtedly better, I think the author in an odd sort of way better gets under the skin of the main characters - not surprisingly perhaps as she wrote the book! She doesn't maintain the tension and the narrative flow in the same way, possibly because the recording is a bit disjonted - breaks are fairly obvious - but I wouldn't let that put you off. I too am way about authors reading their own books: writing and narrating are different skills not often found in the same person. Unlike some other reviewers, I was pleasantly surprised at how good Donna Tartt was at reading her own book. The author shows great skill in creating a tense, claustrophobic and paranoid atmosphere and in hooking to reader into wanting to know what happens to the fairly unlikeable, self-obsessed group of dysfunctional students.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt