The Story: the narrator (Richard, although his name is used so rarely that I kept forgetting what it was) leaves an unhappy existence in California to attend the small, private Hampden College in Vermont. There, he decides to study Greek under an enigmatic professor, Julian, alongside a small, elitist group of other Classics students: cold and intellectual Henry, anxious hypochondriac Francis, twins Charles and Camilla (I wish I could find descriptors for these other than “twin,” but unfortunately they’re both very thinly drawn), and Bunny, who struck me as a kind of a cross between a JD Salinger character and a MAGA bro. In the first few pages, we learn that Bunny is murdered at the hands of the other 5 students. The book then flashes back several months as we learn what led up to that moment.
Why I read it: This book has never been on my TBR. Years ago I spotted it in a bookstore and picked it up, intrigued by the cover, but I was with a friend who told me, “You would hate that book.” I picked it up now because I happened to read a synopsis where I learned that this wasn’t literary fiction, as I’d always assumed, but a mystery. I love a good mystery.
How I felt about it: Hard to say. I read it quickly, for as long as it is, so even though it’s ridiculously slow-moving and dense, it’s still somehow readable. I especially enjoyed the first half, and the epilogue was moving. But I struggled with the second half after Bunny’s murder. One major reason for that was that Bunny, who for all of his many faults is the most well-developed character, was no longer on the scene and the other main characters were just nowhere near as interesting. I found Henry interesting if icky, but he disappears for long stretches of part 2. Richard is a total blank, Charles’s only character trait is his alcohol abuse, Camilla’s only trait is that she’s the token girl, and Francis is just a bundle of nerves. None of them–including Bunny and Julian, who’s really not enough of a character to warrant much discussion–are remotely likable. The book is so overly wordy it’s ridiculous; you can (and I did) skip whole pages and not miss any plot. It’s a classic example of telling, not showing–we are told that Henry and Julian are extremely close although we certainly don’t witness any of this closeness, we are told that Richard is in love with Camilla although we are given no reason why that would be other than she’s the only girl in the group, we are told that Richard looks up to and idolizes Julian but after their first meeting we barely see them interact.
But in spite of all this I enjoyed reading it. I won’t read it again and I have no desire to read anything else by Tartt, but I had fun. The setting is beautifully rendered, the minor characters (such as other college students) are entertaining, and the plot itself is really interesting. I can see why so many people love it, and I can also see why so many people hate it. As for me, I would give it an F for Fine.