Lucia’s Pick:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Donna Tartt’s first novel, The Secret History, genuinely broke me over the summer. What is romanticized by many of us here at Maggie Walker, academics, languages, history, and reading, is introduced in the beginning of the story as an aesthetic that should be strived for at all costs. By the end though, the reader must realize that this book is a criticism of academia and its relentless obsession with beauty and narrative. Behind the cutesy, dark academia setting, the blazer-wearing characters hold immoral secrets that you’ll try to look past in an effort to enjoy the aesthetics. But you can’t. By the end of the book, the characters you once wished to be friends with will turn into the most corrupt, alcoholic murderers. And yet, you’ll find yourself rooting for them.