So I just finished this book and I definitely have mixed feelings on it.
First off Tartt is a fantastic writer. Her ability to draw you into the story and the characters was phenomenal. You really see the world she has created and the characters come to life in your mind. Very, very readable and she built suspense and intrigue extremely well as the story developed. I was never really bored reading this book and it was an enjoyable experience overall.
However, as I said about her ability to build suspense and intrigue this is also where the book fell flat more me multiple times. The possible outcomes were immense for all situations that happen, yet, what ends up being revealed or what events occur never lived up to what she had built up.
When we first are introduced to the class and Julian I was very intrigued as to what was going on with them. Julian was a very mysterious character and appeared very eccentric when we first meet him so when Richard finally gets into his class it was the first let down that the class is not really that much of a focus to the story. Its a Greek class with a weird teacher but it never really goes beyond that.
The story quickly becomes about the students lives outside of school. Okay, cool. Something weird is clearly going on. Everyone is acting weird. Disappearing. Buying plane tickets to leave the country. Something is up and I am on the edge of my seat. Turns out they killed someone wacked out of their minds on drugs trying to do some ritual . They dont really remember much, tho, so there isnt much to go on. Okay.
Now Bunny is causing problems and we know he is going to die so the novel builds to that extremely well. This is a big deal. Or it should have been. Not only are we as readers led to hate Bunny (as well as pretty much every character) but when it happens the novels cuts it out then all we get are Richards brief flashbacks of Bunny going over the edge.
A group of friends killing 1 of their own, especially with how close Henry and Bunny were, should have been an intense scene to say the least but it is cut out.
The FBI then investigates Bunnys death and that goes nowhere.
Then Julian finds out and literally does nothing just fucking leaves completely and honestly who even gives a shit at this point because the character went fucking nowhere anyway and was useless to the story so a useless exit is fitting i guess.
Then Charles is losing his mind and that leads us to Henry killing himself and we dont care because as much as i dont need to like the characters in a story to enjoy it im not going to be affected by their death much if i don't and Henry was the least likeable of an unlikeable bunch. Even Bunnys grieving family was unlikeable
and then the story concluded with an epiloge that couldn't have been less interesting.
2.9/5
by Odd_Fortune500