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. 

Ooooh can this rival The Pursuit of Love as my  favourite Nancy Mitford book?????? Might  :) 

Loved Don't Tell Alfred so much!! Absolutely hilarious! Incredibly witty!! I really enjoyed seeing the tweedy and bookish Fanny and Alfred try and cope with their bohemian children!! So much fun!!!! 

Couldn't bring myself to finish this. 

I 
Just
COULDN'T 

The writing style was beyond irritating and felt like it had come straight from Wattpad circa 2010. The constant use of clichéd similies wouldn't have been out of place in a medicore secondary school creative writing essay. The adult characters were behaving and speaking like literal teenagers...dialogue was so unbelievable. To be honest, I'm doubting that Colleen Hoover has ever interacted with a human over the age of fifteen.