Ok, this is a completely different book from what I was picturing. I was ready for a lengthy novel about a fraternity dabbling in Mysticism and even Satanism. The only thing I got was the lengthy novel part...
So, what isn't this book about. It's not about a professor bringing a group of students together to do evil deeds. It's not a mystery, it's not a thriller, it's not a horror.
What is it? A novel about Richard, who joins a new university and is accepted into this elite classics class which is taught by an enigmatic professor. He only accepts five students, but they have to commit fully to him (this freaked me out with anticipation, but it does nothing for the plot).
Henry, Francis, Bunny and the twins Charles and Camilla are already part of the group. All rich kids. This book is around 630 pages of rich kids being intelligent. Rich kids trying things out. Rich kids making mistakes.
The whole time I had the feeling the action happened outside of the book. We're seeing things through the eyes of the outsider, so maybe Donna Tartt intended it to be this way but I didn't like it. It made the story drag on and on without any thrill.
Why did I give it three stars? I can kind of enjoy a book about a friend group every now and then. Even if it's a bit slow-paced. It didn't fulfil why expectations about evil fraternities or professors, but it is a well-written novel. This means a lot from someone who hated Bret Easton Ellis' "Brat Pack". This book is a bit reminiscent of his books, but here it bothered me less that the student were so incredibly elitist and just taking alcohol and drugs all day while complaining about all their money.
Ok, I need to stop writing before I change my rating..
3 stars
Statistics:
Date read: September 24, 2020
Date published: 1992
Publisher: Penguin
Format: Paperback
Pages: 629
Genre: Contemporary
My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1
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