The Secret History
By Donna Tartt
Rating 5/5
Genres : Historical fiction, Greek history, Dionysian, Mystery, Murder, Fiction, 2022-read.
A group of students of Ancient Greek - in their pursuit and experiments of recreating Dionysian-like loss of self control and touching the other worldly experiences commit a heinous crime - they kill a random farmer on his land. In their attempt to hide it and escape the noose, commit one more murder - of their boisterous and blackmailing friend/team mate. Though they seem to escape the scrutiny of the authorities that eagerly brush aside the event as an accident, their own collective conscience and burdened souls catch up with them. Each goes down a spiral of their own..does it ever end? Is the end only the death of all those involved except the master mind behind the murders from the start?
Its an unstoppable reading marathon for me. I just couldn't put the book down. All the Greek lore got to me very viscerally. At Hampden College in Vermont, Julian Morrow is a professor of ancient Greek who only selectively takes pupils for his course. He conducts his courses the way he chooses fit and there is much secrecy and speculation around how he does them. A newcomer to the university, Richard Papen, is enticed into taking up the course with him along with five other students - Henry, Francis, Charles, Camilla and Bunny. At the beginning, although he is included in their group, he remains much an outsider catching glimpses of something secretive that the others are doing without his knowledge. He becomes rather curious to know about their activities and tails them a bit. Eventually, Henry unloads the mystery to him - they had tried to recreate a dionysian ritual and the experiment went awry killing a person. Their friend Bunny learning of this secret had started blackmailing and threatening them of exposure. With Richard in the pack now, Henry plots to kill off Bunny and they accomplish to get him alone on a cold snowy day. Henry pushes him off a ravine and in his cold detached manner washes his hands off the matter. Later when the FBI gets involved, he tries to pin it on a college drug dealer who is friends with Bunny and even attempts to frame Richard for it. But soon the investigation peters out of steam and they get off the hook. Though there is no threat from the outside, Charles starts going into a spiral of instability, Camilla walks away from her abusive and unhinged brother Charles into hiding, Henry sees no way out other than probably to hinder Charles in someway like Bunny or maybe another way of escape becomes evident to him....
I think past has a way of never leaving us. Guilt even if can be suppressed for a while will reinforce itself on the most staunch and sturdy of minds...making them resort some desperate actions..like Henry, Francis, Charles in the story.
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