Rating: ⅘
Genre: classic, dark academia, mystery
Synopsis: At the beginning of the book, we find out that our narrator has assisted in the murder of one of his friends, Bunny. Throughout the book we slowly unravel how and why this happened, as well as the aftermath of the book.
Trigger warnings (highlight or copy to read - they are written in white): self harm, suicide attempt, unhealthy parent-child relationships, incest, murder, recreational drug use, smoking, homophobia
I have the biggest love-hate relationship with this book.
Firstly, I love dark academia. I love the aesthetic of castles, old bookshelves, and the general atmosphere. I love candles and gloomy weather, everything about it just makes me feel so comforted and happy. If you are the type of person who likes this type of environment then I highly recommend this book. Tartt is a master at building up atmosphere, she knows exactly how to make you feel the chill of the snow or the burn of the fire, or the wind when the characters are just hanging out and drinking by the river. It is basically the epitome of the dark academia type of story and I love that so much.
I also love how throughout the book, you felt like Tartt knew exactly what she was doing with the plot. I think it takes a little bit of time to adjust to the slow pacing but I did, I could not get enough. I think the way Tartt writes is very reminiscent of the 19th century writing style, particularly Charles Dickens, in which she describes all the minor details and builds up everything from the atmosphere to the small miniature details of the room. Whilst I am not a big fan of Dickens’ writing style, I adored the way Tartt wrote. I think she takes the great parts of how descriptive Dickens was without going overboard with the writing. It doesn’t feel like the book was much longer than it needed to be and I think that makes her writing so wonderful to read.
I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of this book. Something very original about this book is that you know what the mystery is and you know who did it, so it’s not so much a who-done-it mystery but rather a why-done-it? I love books like this where you already know the outcome and you’re just waiting to get to the end, a little bit similar to Vicious by V.E. Schwab in terms of structure but these two books are nothing alike in terms of story. By writing the book like this, Tartt was about to place mentions of death throughout the novel, which then kept up the atmosphere of the book. Even whilst the friends are having fun, there is just this creepy underlying tone and reminder of death, and murder these people committed.
However, I don’t really think this book is about the mystery at all despite that being the main overarching plot. I think the main thing about this book has to do with the characters, which I know, sounds really pretentious but it’s really true. It’s more of an exploration of character than anything and how they are pushed to extremes. It’s about these characters, who really, are just straight up bad people and how they react to situations they are unhappy with. I feel like they are so real that I can figure out what type of person they all are. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book, however, this does mean some people find the mystery rather underwhelming or the plot slow. I just wanted to point this out so people don’t go in expecting a creepy murder mystery when that isn’t really so much the point of this book.
One of the most polarising things about this book are the characters. Personally, I have a massive love-hate relationship with them and they are the root behind my love-hate relationship with this book. They are annoying, pretentious and they make me want to punch them every single time they do or say anything. Like, they literally make me so angry but part of me loves that so much. The pretentiousness of these characters really truly suits the environment of this book and they feel like such real people. I know people who are exactly like the ones you see in this book. They are so well realised and real that despite how truly, truly irritating they are I can’t help but love how they are written. Don’t get me wrong, I would fight all of them if I met them in real life, but to follow them was perfect for the goals of this novel.
Overall, I think whether or not you will like this book will be down to you. The writing is incredible and so beautiful, each sentence feels like it has been carefully crafted to suit the environment and atmosphere of this book. Every line I read from it felt like it had a purpose. However, it is a slow moving book with some of the most annoying characters I’ve ever read. I feel like you will absolutely despise this book or it will become your new favourites. For me, it was the latter. The only way to tell is to read it yourself.