''Does such a thing as 'the fatal flaw,' that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn't. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.''

I really really enjoyed this book. Its the perfect dark academia/contemporary gothic inspired read. Really atmospheric and beautifully written...almost in a way that attempts to (intentionally) distract and misdirect the reader from all the crazy dark sh*t going on. The characters are all incredibly pretentious, truly horrible and really f*cked up in one way or another, but somehow you're still pulled in by them. The decision to have Richard be this unreliable narrator who sees his fellow Classics students through rose tinted glasses really shows how someone could be drawn into such an insular world---romanticising foreign civilisations and speaking dead languages, blindly following his peers even when their actions become more and more questionable. 

Their teacher, Julian, I found particularly interesting...especially considering Richard's musing on him towards the end; why he selects the students that he does, completely isolating them from the rest of the university and whether his actions really are benevolent in nature, rooted in vanity or in something more sinister.

 
Donna Tartt also explores the concept of class, privilege, and class entitlement in a really interesting way, a way in which many books and films have tried to achieve but haven't quite as well as this one.