I was absolutely captivated by this book. It's the best I've read in years. The storytelling and language work in tandem to make even the most mundane incidents fascinating. If you have heard me talk about [b:The Goldfinch|17333223|The Goldfinch|Donna Tartt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1378710146l/17333223._SY75_.jpg|24065147], you know I both loved it and love complaining about it, but The Secret History is pure love. I stayed up well into the night multiple times while reading—especially as the characters began spiraling toward mental breakdowns under the stress of all they had done.

A couple notes, iykyk:
- My girl Judy is the best person in the book. Let us praise how her no-nonsense attitude gets stuff done, she has a good head on her shoulders, and she always has the low-down on key bits of gossip. Richard thinks she is vapid and superficial, but she saves him so many times.
- I did NOT like the epilogue. Why is that even there ruining the story like that?? I think Tartt couldn't let go of the characters and was dying to tell us all about her character notes for them. Big TMI energy here.

Spoiler

- Can we have more backstory psychoanalyzing Charles, please? Like who the heck cares that he ends up living in Texas, what we really want to know is what led him to that enmeshment with Camilla. Of all the characters, we learn the least about him and his personality is mostly: alcoholic. It occurred to me that their relationship serves as merely a plot device to make the story mimic a Greek epic, but still.
- Is the big beast that appears in the road the thing that really killed the farmer? And the fallout afterwards is all for naught? There are so many unanswered little mysteries like this sprinkled throughout the book, I love it.