The Secret History

A Read with Jenna Pick

By: Donna Tartt

Narrated by: Donna Tartt

Length: 22 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A contemporary literary classic and "an accomplished psychological thriller... absolutely chilling" (Village Voice), from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Goldfinch.

Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.

“A remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment.... Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.”—The New York Times

©2023 Penguin Random House Audio (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A beautifully written story, well-told, funny, sad, scary, and impossible to leave alone until I finished. . . . What a debut!"—John Grisham

"Powerful . . . Enthralling . . . A ferociously well-paced entertainment."—The New York Times

"An accomplished psychological thriller . . . Absolutely chilling . . . Tartt has a stunning command of the lyrical."—The Village Voice

I feel wounded by the narration.

I’m so glad I read The Goldfinch first, followed by The Little Friend, and THEN this one. As I have an hour commute, each way, every day, I’m dependent on audio books to keep me sane. The Goldfinch lives in me, haunts me, and always will. But if I’d chosen to do Donna Tartt in order, I’d have listened to the first ten pages of Secret History, and returned it for a refund. I’m honestly not sure if it was a good book…it was so utterly destroyed by the narration. I’ve experienced many audiobooks where I didn’t think I’d like the narrator, but I stuck with it and ultimately found I didn’t notice anymore the annoyances I found in the beginning. But this…this was excruciatingly stabbing me in the ears all the way to the final page. When I saw the author was reading it herself, I raised an eyebrow, but I genuinely WANTED it to be good. I wanted to like her, to find her comforting, to hear her tell her own story masterfully…but no. I refuse to let this change the way I feel about her other books, but I’m afraid this one is eternally tainted.

Love Donna Tarts writing

Slow start but worth the wait, I absolutely love Tart and her character development is unparalleled.

Novel has seemingly aged poorly

Tartt’s revelation at the book’s opening, that the main character’s have murdered a friend, is all that keeps the story moving forward. In another work this might have been enough. But in a 20-hour work of unlikeable characters, knowing they will eventually kill the least likeable among them, the story drags far too often. There’s little reason to sympathize with anyone and completing the work, with Tartt’s own inexperienced voice narrating characters that lack the unique qualities needed to make them stand apart, was a major struggle.
After enjoying the Goldfinch, this supposedly superior debut work was extremely disappointing.

Layered Storytelling. Wonderful!

Wonderful winding story almost dreamlike. Loved hearing this story read by the author. Nothing better. Highly recommend listening again and again.

Brilliant

A great book. I just couldn’t get through the audiobook version - I appreciate the author reading her own text, but it made me lose the voice of the characters.

Dive In ….

It’s taken me hours to figure what I want to say about this book after finishing it. The characters aren’t likeable, the story doesn’t have dramatic twists & turns, the narration is quirky, the story is long (22+ hours); yet, I was pulled in & interested in the story & characters from the beginning until the end. I wanted to find a reason to drop this book & couldn’t. The rich, twisted, collegiate world developed by the author was just too intriguing to step away.

Excellent story

I loved the dark complexity of this story, and enjoyed the author reading it-except for the voice of Bunny. In many audiobooks or paper books, I lose interest half or 3/4 of the way through, but this author’s imagination and character development grips my interest!

Loved this story

I absolutely love Donna Tarte’s, writing style and vocabulary skills. I loved the narration I didn’t realize until the end that it was she. There were a lot of twists and turns and my emotions ran the gamut through this story. I highly recommend.

Suprisingly gripping

Who would have thought life at a Vermont liberal arts college would be do gripping?

Great Story Hobbled by Author

A great American book with a classic subject, just a subpar experience with the author’s narration. The main character is a young Californian male; Donna T has a southern accent that cripples the immersion throughout. It’s cool that we can hear the emphasis and drama where she intends it to be, but it’s an awful production.