More on The Secret History

I wrote about the book before, the time as I was still reading it. I was drawn into the story from the fist pages. This is what Donna Tartt’s books are like. It is easy to make such a generalization as she has written only three books and I already have read two of the three. The author promises the next book in 10 years time, I am glad that I still have one more unread. The pleasure, reflections and fun of reading The Little Friend are still ahead of me. I think, I will make a break from Donna Tartt and delay the pleasure as well as balance my reading a bit. David Copperfield, Cixi and a couple of books by Adam Phillip are in reading right now and I am still choosing my number one of the current books. The one I intend to read in one go.

Back to Donna Tartt… The Secret History is another elegant book, just right for my Year of Elegance that actually has not been so elegant after all. It is a book about being cultured and this appeals to some of the readers. It is also about beauty of things, art, nature… And it says that unless beauty is wed to something more meaningful is always superficial. Hmm… something to think about. Florentine museums, churches and galleries say that adoration of God makes art meaningful. This is fine with me. But beautiful objects one just likes to look at and hold do not seem to be wed to anything meaningful except for giving pleasure to the observer. Hmm…. again.

The Secret History is a multilayer story and one of the layers is Donna’s version of Crime and Punishment. Comparing a writer to Dostoyevsky is a big if not arrogant statement, but I am not doing it lightly. I read Crime and Punishment many years ago and still remember the sticky, oppressive feeling the book left me with. The feeling is still there when I think about some of the fragments that stuck to my mind for good. The same happened to me while reading the second part of The Secret History. I did not enjoy the reading and yet I could not put the book away.  The unpleasant feeling is still with me. It may stay for a while, it seems.

One statement by Julian, the teacher, one of the characters of the book, made me ponder: “ a Hindu saint being able to slay a thousand on the battlefield and it not being a sin unless he felt remorse”. It that true in general sense? There is a lot of remorse that the characters felt and this creates a really Dostoyevsky’s atmosphere. It is so easy to kill and so difficult to live. But perhaps only if one feels remorse.

The story is also about friendship. Can it be real or is it an illusion we want to create out of desire to share some events of life with someone caring and trustworthy? As the story develops we see that most of the situations taken by the narrator as acts of friendship were really dictated by self interest of his friends. Were there really friends or was it just a projected need of Richard. The idealistic part of me cries realizing that this is often true in life. This is a dramatic statement but formulated with tongue-in-cheek and with acceptance of life realities.

The main character, Henry, fascinates and puzzles me. Liking him to Mycroft Holmes? I wish I could talk to someone about complexities of his nature and coming up with justification for his decisions and acts. Comments and discussion on the subject would be most welcome. She hopes...

P.S. Writing about the book in my first review, I felt that I did not give it justice. I felt it but could not put my finger on what actually bothers me in what I had written. I published the post anyway and got a comment from my very faithful reader and commenter saying that he will give the book a miss. This is absolutely understandable, we like different things and I was not hurt by it as I was not trying to convince anyone to read The Secret History, even if I thought that the book is definitely worth while reading. What bothered me however when I wrote about the book that it was coming across as a very trivial story. On reflection, it is a very trivial in many ways. Like one of those books to read fast to kill time. This is deceiving. One reads the book fast, of course, but this is a deep, wise book, written elegantly, with great knowledge of various aspects of art, culture and human nature. It investigates our motives actions and ways of dealing with consequences. It is a universal book about human conditions and issues. A great book for people who like philosophy and psychology.

The author is likened to Dickens and I am starting to understand why Donna Tartt’s name is often mentioned together with the great XIX century writer. The same attention to detail, wonderful narratives, written in the first person (like David Copperfield, I am just reading). There are, no doubt, more similarities but I am only half way trough my first Dickens’s book. (4/1/2016)

Donna Tartt - The Secret History

I just finished the fourth part of My Struggle by Knausgaard. I have been absolutely fascinated by the first two books but I have lost momentum while reading the next two. Maybe I even lost some interest; consequently I was much slower reading the fourth part than the first two. I put the book aside several times to read other things, but when I got back to it after a break, the old magic came back and I finished it in one sitting. I may come back to writing my impressions about the Karl Ove story and I will most likely get the next book one day, maybe not that soon though.

                                                          

For now, another book took over my attention and thoughts.  I am now following my second fascination that started earlier this year. Donna Tartt! When I finished My Struggle – Book Four, I moved the same day to read The Secret History of Donna Tartt. I found it strange that it felt as if I was still reading the same author. Building of sentences must have some similarity. I am half way through The Secret History now and no longer have earlier feeling of déjà vu regarding the style. 

                                                        

On the right Polish cover of the book, I like it better than the English version. It says more about the book content

              

Donna Tartt has written three books so far; The Secret History published in 1992, The Little Friend published in 2002 and The Goldfinch – 2013. It takes her about 10 years to write a book. She says that being born in 1963 she will write two more novels. Maybe three… It is a long time to wait for the next one, but I still have The Little Friend to read. My Polish friend, a literature teacher, who is responsible for my reading Knausgaard and Donna Tartt, already has new writers he intends to put on my reading list. So far, I appreciate his forceful recommendations so I am expecting new literary interest to come up and unfold.

The Secret History is a story described as intelligent person thriller; it keeps reader’s attention fully captured. As a thriller should. And similarly to The Goldfinch it is much more than just a well written mystery. It triggers off reflections, memories, asks questions that stay with the reader and demand personal answers. It is also a book about appreciation of classical studies, art and beautiful objects. There is air of exclusivity about the way heroes dress, eat and behave. Some of the six main characters, five boys and one girl, come from rich families, some do not have any money, but all of them have their rather exclusive style. They are nonchalant about wearing Charvet ties, Astrakhan coats while they study classics at the Vermont elite collage. There were times I considered attention to labels, silly and empty. I still do in many ways, but I also recognize a special beauty of some exclusive objects and appreciate pleasure of possessing them. They can be treated as utilitarian objects of art, so I am not that critical any more of people liking their beautiful possessions. And Oscar Wilde said “A well-tied tie is the first serious step in life”. Let’s not ignore good dress sense. 

£172.75 - Charvet striped silk tie - Good news : now shipping to Australia !

                                               

My observations today must have made an impression that my interest and the book itself is all about exclusive dressing. It is not, on either account. I just elaborated on this particular subject maybe a bit too much. Temporary weakness. Maybe I even started to pay more attention to small things and their beautiful details. But I am also thinking of my answer to the question, triggered by the book, in which part of my life my character was formed. Was it my solitary childhood when I was reading those idealistic books or was it the time I first lived in a big city, still reading a lot and working as one of the first Warsaw computer programmers? When my work ethics were created?

The main issue the book is asking of readers to grapple with is about how far can one go in committing unethical deeds and get away without being punished by self, others or fate. Is it possible at all? Will our conscious allow it? I will keep reading to find out Donna Tartt's answers. Conclusion, if there is one, soon.

Still about The Goldfinch

I am still dwelling on some parts of The Goldfinch that particularly caught my attention. The book is full of interesting observations so AC Observes is compelled to notice and make her own conclusions and parallels.

I stopped and pondered on Theo’s reflection regarding people who loved him and supported him. There were two people in his life that cared for him exceptionally much, they were guessing his needs and his worries in attempt to fulfill the first and remedy the second. This is a very special type of love and our mothers usually give us that. Good mothers, that is. Mine was a good mother and she smothered me with guessing what may worry me or what may hurt me. Sometimes this was even irritating and I tried to shake off her affectionate caring. I wish I could experience such moments again, I would take it in a different way. Unfortunately, I do not think that it will happen, not my age and not with my mother passing away. Not all her caring was particularly clever. She may have helped me to become a hypochondriac or at least thinking about my health too much. It was also unfortunate that she did not appreciate value of physical fitness. Very few people did in Poland in the time I was growing up. One day we had a running competition at school and I won the run for 100 meters. It was exhilarating but my mother checked if I did not get by any chance sweaty as the result of my sporty achievement. I did. This was the end of my running carrier and I obediently took her council. Silly and funny. For many years I followed old saying “in healthy body lives a healthy cow” and kept away from sport and redirected my efforts to intellectual pursuits. I wish I could reverse the time and correct mistakes.

My mother was right caring for me the best way she knew. 

                                                          

Lives turn in unexpected ways. We plan, work towards some goals, go about our days as usually and then suddenly something happens that changes the course of our life. If we only knew, we may have chosen different path and our life would be different. Maybe better, maybe worse. Theo’s life changed dramatically when he and his mother on the way to Theo’s school went to the Met Museum to see a particular exhibition. There are many “if onlys” that Theo deliberates on. Things could have been different and his mother would have been alive, if only… Many of us have such situations in life that from a distance of time we see that we could have changed the course of our history. I do. And sometimes we blame ourselves; the right steps are so obvious when we look at the situation later on. We are now aware of the signs that should have redirected our steps and actions. We feel guilty that we were not able to correctly foresee the future, use our intuition to protect ourselves. Theo does in hard times of his life. He realizes that he had at least partial knowledge that could have taken his life in a different direction. I, myself sometimes experience similar feelings. One of such moments was my last goodbye to my mother at the Warsaw airport. If I only read the signs, stayed with her maybe she would not pass away so early. She left such a big gap in my life.  And here Donna Tartt comes to the rescue. She says that sometimes after the events we think we knew what we should have done but this is not so. We had only partial knowledge, nor sufficient to make different decisions. We did not know enough. Later, we found new pieces of the puzzle and only this information would have allowed us act differently. Then it was already too late. For a person like myself this is very uplifting explanation.

Quo Vadis?

                                               

I perhaps read too much into the book’s messages but I still maintain that this is the beauty of the book that takes us on our own tangents, things that are significant to an individual person.  

The Goldfinch

I have finished The Goldfinch of Donna Tartt two days ago. I am usually a slow reader, maybe because I read difficult books, rarely novels. I get my brain rest watching feel good repeats on television. Books are meant to teach me something. Lately, I have been making some exceptions though, reading Knausgaard’s My Struggle and more. At the moment I have more books on the go than usually, this is because there were so many temptations in Polish bookstores to which I have succumbed and my reading backlog, as the result, is very impressive. Or overwhelming, if you like. The Goldfinch made me put all the other books aside and I finished it in a record time six or seven days. The book has over 800 pages. Big part of my days and sometimes nights was dedicated to reading. I was totally immersed in the book. Nice feeling, really. I experienced it often in my young years so I felt rejuvenated in spirit. 

Various people classify the book as a bildungsroman, a type of novel concerned with development and maturing of a person. This is a story about Theo who is thirteen years old when the story starts with a very dramatic event of explosion in the Metropolitan Museum. He is in the museum with his mother when the tragedy strikes. His mother is killed in the explosion and the boy escapes from the place with his life, a ring and the small painting of the goldfinch painted by Fabritius  in 1654. I do not intend to write about the story, just my major impressions and observations resulting from reading the book.

I must have seen the painting a long time ago, maybe even twice as I have been twice in the gallery of Mauritshuis in the Hage. That’s where the painting is on display. Mauritshuis is my most favourite gallery in the world. Of course, I have seen rather limited number of galleries, but this one is to me very special. Maybe because I like the Dutch paintings or maybe because it is not too big and one can enjoy the paintings without being overwhelmed. 

                                  

I must confess that there were other paintings in the Maurithuis that made bigger impression on me than The Goldfinch.  I can hardly remember the little painting of the little bird from those times, but there is a vague recollection in me.

                                                   

The story is gripping and this is one of the reasons why it reads so well and captures one’s attention. For me it was much more, though. I have been always pondering over questions: “how to live Prime minister?” or “what it is all about?”. Maybe the book has not given me definite answers but it gave me some pointers. Or maybe it was me who came to my own conclusions? I feel, however, that improved clarity of thought was inspired by the book. This is, I think, one of the many strength of the book. It triggers off readers’ reflection over their own lives.

The book is concerned with love of beauty and particularly with preservation of antique objects or even only their fragments. Antiques have been my interest since many years, so I responded to the book in a particular way. There were times when I thought that I pay too much attention to objects, to “stuff” as I sometimes dismissively called my treasures. The book made me think of attachment to possessions as more noble than I saw it before. I look at it now as a love of beauty rather than possessiveness. Nice feeling.

Friendship, one of my core values, is a very strong part of the book. The friendship that is accepting, understanding, accepting without understanding, blind because it is based on trust that underlines the relationship. Friendship I would like to experience but I am not sure if I could master that much trust as Theo has for Boris. I find Boris’ character absolutely fascinating. He is Russian who is thrown into various countries and he assimilates well there. However, to me deep down he is Russian, he has Russian soul and Russian complexities of the character. It is very difficult to understand the Russian soul.  Donna Tartt does. This is colourful and fascinating part of the book.

If I was rating the book, I would give it 10 out of 10.

The Goldfinch and old buildings

About one month ago, I have been given three books as my name-day’s presents. I must confess that my first reaction was not gracious or positive. I am talking here about my thoughts, not verbalizing my disappointment. The reason for my initial reaction was not that I would have preferred some other presents. It was an issue of feeling obliged to read something I would not have chosen myself. This approach would be an explanation why I still do not belong to any book club even though I like the concept a lot. I obviously do not like much to be told what I should read. Time is precious.

However, I have read two of the given books with some interest and I am now reading the third of them The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Needless to say that eventually I feel very grateful to my friends for changing my reading plans that I had made before I left Australia for my Polish holidays.  I am particularly grateful for The Goldfinch, 800 pages plus book. I have not finished it yet but the story is fascinating and I read over 100 pages per day. I soon will be done. There is more to the book than just a story, much more, but I need to digest it a bit before I write more about it.

The book got the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 and I believe this is a controversial recognition. There are many layers in the book and many detours that I find interesting. Since the story is riveting it is easy to skim pages and bypass the meandering. I am not one of such readers who skim books to my disadvantage. I feel guilty if I do not read every word in a book. In this case I am rather happy that my habit makes me read all, or almost all.  There are little pearls on each page of the book.

                                                

Donna Tartt’s book has a lot of farewells. People and things are passing away from our lives. Things are fluid, they change and I felt that in the book there is a big dose of regret that it must be so. Such sentiments are obvious when people we love move away from our life. There is more than that though. Like the description of the old building, in which the hero of the book lived in the past, being gutted to make room for a new more modern and exclusive version. Maybe I found it particularly moving because I also have particular sentiment to old, beautiful objects and this includes buildings. I was really upset walking Sydney CBD streets when the old buildings were being destroyed. I almost felt physical pain. Most of facades were left to stay, however some of them collapsed during the demolition. I thought that in such a young country like Australia where there are not too many XIXth century buildings, the existing ones should be treasured. When I come to Poland I check what has happened in my neighbourhood.  I am always a little worried that some of my favourites may have not survived the year. There are many old buildings around and their renovation is sometimes more expensive than a replacement with a new. “Sensible” business decisions erase history too often.

I deviated from the subject of The Goldfinch. This is only the sign that the book wakes up dormant sentiments and emotions. This is part of its attraction and power.

I shall finish the book in a couple of days and I believe that I will feel compelled to write again about the book and my impressions. So stay tune if you are interested in the book. Better still start reading.