Secret History

I thought this was good. The characters were hateable but I think the that atmosphere is what carries me on - it's tense and stifling.

Exactly my experience; I tried very hard to overcome the dislike, but in the end, decided they deserved their fate (whatever it was!). A huge disappointment, given the hype.

Had to give up on this one, disliking both the characters and their ideas. I found it impossible to care about them.

I especially like the way that for most of the book there's this intriguing group of people, and you're desperate to know more about them and what they're up to, but you get this frustrating sense of being kept on the outside along with the narrator. Which was very effective. It had me hooked.

Strangely compelling.

The Secret History is my favourite book ever. It's the most gripping, atmospheric novel I can ever imagine reading. Since reading TSH for the first time 15 years ago, I've searched and searched for something as good... without success.

This novel is a worthwhile read, a story about a group of university students led to murder. It is a profound account of friendship dramatically tested, blackmail and longing. . Its power is subtle and rooted in a space between two periods of time or history. A present day Greek tradgey finds the students renacting Bacchanal frenzy... to extremes. A principal of this is perhaps the strength of a terrible restlessness within young arrogance and the struggle for purer happiness to transcend even their immediate knowledge and kinship. It occasioanlly borders a little on intellectual pomp and arrogance but this works purely as a tool within the story.