The only thing I'm 99% sure of with Richard is that he was hot. Judy immediately likes him for no apparent reason, Francis immediately demands if he wants to sleep with him, and the two girls that Richard sleeps with while at Hampton hit on him, not the other way around. Either he made all this up or this boy was fine as hell.
I'm not sure either Francis or Judy were that particular! But even so - you're spot on - our boy Richard seems to have an effortless physical appeal, despite his cranky, discouraging personality.
orrr thats what he wanted us to believe lol. when u reread the book u realize how much was an unreliable narrator was him, he narrated half of the book with lies
My messed up brain was thinking that Julian was sleeping with Henry, a very impressionable young man who's able to lead, and was controlling him in order to carry out his deepest desires (like murder) without having to get his hands dirty. I'm kind of disappointed that the professor wasn't the antagonist. No, we got inscmest instead.
I think that is a very valid reading; the pupils seem to regard the Lyceum as a place to engage in desires that might be looked down upon by outsiders: Julian & Henry as erastês/erômenos, Charles & Camilla's...relationship compared to that of the Olympian gods, Francis & Charles's relationship, and the Bacchanal. To add another dimension to your point, all of Julian's students are those who have troubled home lives -- Henry's & Richard's abusive fathers, Charles & Camilla being orphans, Francis raised by his grandfather, & Bunny's own upbringing. You can definitely read Julian as taking advantage of vulnerable young people by slotting himself in as a parental figure.
he can speak it, but hes not a naitive speaker, which is why he can communicate with the hotel staff (?) in Italy with no problem, but was hesitant to go to the doctors when he got the migrane
I feel like Richard and Julian are similar. Julian views the Greek club members as pieces in his collection of rare and interesting things, and that's really how Richard views them too. I wouldn't be surprised if Julian had a similar background to Richard (I don't remember the book mentioning his background, but I only read it once...) of growing up with an unimpressive family, and then just going out into the world, infiltrating other spaces and collecting new identities. They both also have pretty bad perceptive abilities; neither of them picked up on what the group did (to Bunny/the farmer) until it was explicitly laid out in front of them. Kind of adorably unaware. Or maybe it's willful ignorance because they prefer things to be enigmatic and alluring instead of facing the ugly truth.
He was classist and it reminded me of a less cool ,washed out version of Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Grey. The way he’s obsessed with beauty and aesthetic and tries to seduce almost his students and push them to explore beyond the morality which in both stories doesn’t end up well 🥲
Maybe it's reading this book in my thirties, but Julian as a middle aged man being obsessed with this young college students makes me cringe. Any older person trying to impress and influence younger people is always a huge red flag.
For folks who want to read or reread The Secret History, I would recommend reading the following first (in no particular order): 1.) The Rules of Attraction (1987) by Brent Easton Ellis 2.) Either the Bacchae by Euripides or the Oresteia by Aeschylus (or both -- they are fascinating works & I am not judging.) ------------------------------------------------ The reason I pose these works is that they might help someone get in the right headspace for trying to pick up what Tartt is putting down. Ellis is a comparable writer to Tartt not only due to having a shared background but also that The Rules of Attraction & The Secret History are very similar in terms of plot, deliberately confusing style, & how they relate to the "campus novel" genre. The characters try to fool the audience to buying into a particular perception of themselves when in actuality it does not line up with reality, which is much more like Rules of Attraction. The second group are there to help the reader pick what even the characters in the story do not recognize; despite presenting these characters as epic heroes & heroines, they are actually in a Greek Tragedy. Euripides's Bacchae is included for somewhat obvious reasons, but I also included The Oresteia as the archetypical tragedy but also because the "curse" of House Atreus is as much of a cycle of violence by broken characters believing they will be the ones to break the curse as it is an actual curse. EDIT: Also, if you want a good film to go with The Secret History, I would highly recommend Rope (1948) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The reasons should be obvious.
Listening to you I realize that I romanticided this book, better yet, all characters waaay too much. Gotta read it again, but not yet, just finished it 3 days ago. Thank you!
great recap🎀 i couldn’t stop thinking about this book so this helps with closure. I just wish Camilla was a more prominent character and that we knew her better, but it’s probably on purpose to symbolize that richard just romanticized her and that she was pretty much a concept in his mind, rather than a real person. also i am so mad at henry for some reason, i can’t stopppp he really annoyed me at the end
and julian is WEIRD, the kiss henry gave him on the cheek or something, the 19 classes he had with him, even if julian didn’t orchestrate things, he is in some ways responsible for henry‘s sociopathic behavior. but i love how this book made us feel like bonny just had to go and justify his murder with richard and the little cult they had going on. Henry is very interesting, i just feel like he and richard definitely had some serial killer tendencies and all the greek lectures talking about how to get out of your own head, the rituals, the romanticism of destruction just bred these feelings to become reality
it took me literally a year to read this because I was living in a really shitty apartment in the dead of winter and I had to keep the window open cause if I didn't literally MOLD would grow on my walls, and this coincided with Richard living with the hippy and it was like way too real so yeah I had to pause and wait till the warmer months
this is one of the best video essays on the secret history ever it's so in depth and well-explained and your commentary adds a fun element so it's never boring. def gonna watch all your other vids lol
i always thought Julian knew about the bacchanal and that they were attempting it but he never knew about the farmer. when richard asked didn't henry say theres no need to bother julian with things that might affect him or something like that? that's why i think at the end, henry was the "god of illusion" which was supposed to be the original title of the book. Because he's the one withholding the information as and when he likes, holding on to the illusions his intellect and appearance provide. why Julian finding out the truth about his star pupil really dishevels him because he's lost control of the illusion. it was henry who pushed the group to try out the bacchanal, he who debated which book would portray a better illusion of innocence and morality and ethics. Even his end was an illusion for the rest of the world. edit: yup yup i checked sparknotes and even there ch 5 summary says that julian didnt know about the farmer only that the bachanal was a success. which makes sense as to why he left when he found out (my brain is processing the story half a month later) because 1: he realised for the first time that the people he was talking to, indulging in "play" with, not work, weren't educated adults whom he usually dealt with. they were young minds capable of molding and bending to an idolised person's will. it was the end of julian's own childlike fascination with everything mystic and mythic and realising how his words had real life consequences. and also why he didn't report to the police because 2: he realized that once the entire letter was submitted the truth about the farmer would come to light, and of course the reason behind it, the bacchanal, also would come to light and who else would be to blame but the elusive tax evasive man in the college who forced his students to only study with him and isolated the students to only be surrounded by his opinions, not letting them mingle with the normal crowd so they're able to see through the intense emulation julian was putting the students through and how unhealthy it was. that's why henry was also so offended at his cowardice because a man who spoke about living forever couldn't live one day in the presence of the consequences of his own actions. WOW WHAT AN END TO MY THOUGHT I HAVE COMPLETED EDUCATION GOOD NIGHT>
Idk how disillusioned Julian was with the mythic and mystic...I don't know if we have any evidence he saw any error in his approach to education or felt the consequences of his actions. I just read his disappearing as "You all weren't slick enough to keep this under wraps, and so you've ruined this good thing we had going. Now that I'm aware I can be implicated legally and I won't mixed up in this. You all are on your own." Like the worst parts of patriarchy and privledge, he just read as totally devoid of empathy and genuine care for other humans. He cared only for his taste for the sublime, his obsessions, and his own reputation and ability to continue investing in his own interests. And that's the true legacy he passed on to his students.
@@thegnome73 oh absolutely, he didn't see any fault. neither did anyone really, even richard says that he still remembers him in the mysterious elite persona Julian always put forth. in the two days it took me to process the end and the book in general, even though i'd read it over the course of 3 months, was that had julian not drilled into henry the beauty of a good story, the stories of heroes who give up everything for the right cause, he may have never killed himself. julian's exit shook henry to the core also but it was probably him clinging to the stability that he knew was right. because henry was the closest to julian and always wanted to emulate him. and thats why francis saw henry look at him with disapproval when he was trying to do the same. if its the real ghost then he already knows its not the right answer. idk i'm probably reaching but still this book has left my mind in a convoluted web i need ms tartt to sit and tell me why everything happened and what is the reason and psychology behind it
@@oftheearthbutfromthestars Man, I devoured it two days and I know I'm going to need to let my mind process it for a while. It's been about a month listen to others' analysis and theories and I know I'll need to reread it again. It's so amazing to find a book with enough substance for your mind to chew on you need to come back to it, you know?
You did the lord’s work with this video because I like to watch summaries after I read super long or interesting books to make sure I’m not dumb and I got everything 😂. Thanks for the content!
i love this book so much, like this is amazing. also, i feel like we are due for a tv adaptation, like it needs to happen, but after the goldfinch flopped, i am thinking donna is not letting anyone touch this one lmao. if i were to adapt it, one thing i would enhance, besides making the cast diverse, is richard's incessant "I'm not gay, but..." like Richard would be clearly bi, and still infatuated with camila, and more involved with francis, and just very clearly in love with the idea of henry. idk why donna loves to write main characters that are like "well i hooked up with this guy, and also I'm basically in love with this guy, but I'm also obsessed with the idea of this girl so clearly i am straight and could never in many year be any type of queer" like Richard and theo why are you like this??
!!!! it reminds me very much of donnas own life, she was single for decades and then got together with neal who she met at Bennington, so maybe she’s alluding to her own relationship with queerness
in my personal opinion i just don’t think it would translate well onto the screen. and (i hate to say it) but part of the point of the book (to me at least) is their rich kid, white privilege so as much as i’d love to see a diversified cast i don’t think it would work as well as we’d hope. i just feel like it’d be hard to tel the story from richard’s pov as well as it was told in the book because a lot of the way the characters are perceived is richard’s fantasized dramatic version of the characters
@@morgproffer4283 yeah, the more i think about it the more i see how it would not work on screen, it would take a complete rehaul of the thing, and at that point, just make something original
this book has been sitting on my shelf for A YEAR and watching this video really made me wanna read the book despite the fact that i’ve spoiled it for myself 😭😭 anyways this was so interesting to watch and you gained a new subscriber
this was amazing and you explained a complex book in such a captivating way. i never finish video essays but i watched this one to completion. thank you for giving us this video!!!!!!
"Oh captain my captain" SENT ME. That's one of my favorite movies! Also, thank YOU for making this video. Girl you went THROUGH IT. I had to DNF at chapter 5. But this was a life savor and so well done!.THANK YOU
It find it hilarious that this book is about pretentious rich kids because Judy Poovey is *allegedly* based on Michelle Matland, the costume designer for Succession. Great video, btw!
I LOVE THIS BOOOOOOOIKKKK. I think reading it was the first time i had to periodically stop and wonder about the symbolism and meaning and if hold true for me. The writing is so realistic that i forget that its fiction. i love it. i would give up ten words from my vocabulary to know what henry whispered in camilla's ear.
i also thought that the whole scene of the school mourning was how like commentary on how people make an event out of anything. the people who even knew him barely were mourning him like he was their closest friend, how they saw him dance ONCE or throw a beer can once. thats why it tied up with the analogy of the girl who did the unaliving and how the student rep or whatever used the same "we have lost a wonderful life today" speech that he used for bunny. and also when the book is compared to if we were villains, i think the fact that no one went to jail was even a worse option for them because there was no absolving of guilt and they lost the one thing, which is julian's magic of it all, that mattered and tied them together the most. they lost the appeal to study it, they lost the idealistic and fancy foo foo world of classics they were living in. in IWWV, the dude goes to jail and things get resolved and he still loves shakespeare. he knows it was because of shakespeare that it all happened in the first place but he's still quoting the dialogues when he comes out of prison ten years later.
In a sense, not going to jail and having to live with the guilt is a great punishment. It's like that story I heard of the mom whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver and she sent him letters/photos from the girl every month and it tormented him with guilt to punish him for taking her life and he became an AA rep afterwards and got sober.
The secret history is a really good book to have a conversation on. I have read the book but this is a good way to understand perspectives and relive the book
So much admiration for you for making this craaaazy long video in honour of such a special book! The presentation style is really engaging, the 212 minutes fly by, and it does a great job at taking you through all the key plot points, while adding in lots of character notes and theories. To be ultra pedantic, at 55:35, Charles *tries* to pull out the shard of glass from Camilla's foot but is too squeamish to do it seeing how much it hurts her, and Henry has to shove him aside and do it himself, establishing his capacity to act with unflinching efficiency in the face of an unpalatable task. If I ever get around to making my short video eulogising about The Secret History, I'll definitely link viewers back to this splendid epic of yours!
this is my favorite book of all time and i wanted to reread it this fall but it would take wayyy too long so this was the perfect way to relive it 🤭 thank you so much
This was so good!! Thank you for this! I felt like I was in an English class with a cool teacher or something lol. I’m currently reading the book but I got half of it spoiled for me so I just decided to watch this so I knew what I was getting myself into 😂
Watching this after I just finished the book. Thank you so much for making this it really allows us who read it to get a great summary and feel immersed again :> you’re a queen
This was great. I read the book but I loved watching this explanation and you made a lot of connections that I didn’t Please do more long form book explanations like this!
i have been watching this video ever since i finished this book! i love how u summarize and sprinkle in your thoughts (ur so entertaining)! please do more summaries omg ur so great at it!!!! 🥰🤩
i'm loving this video!! i'm almost done reading the book, and i'll come back to this video to pick up where i left off! can't wait to see you recap the ending aaaa
thank you girl, I watched 30 sec of Taylor Rosen telling about this book and I thought: yes I am now interested. But not in reading the book, I am into watching a 3h video explaining its most juicy parts.
i read the finnish translation of this book and the scene when Bunny and Richard are eating at the restaurant and Bunny is being a bigot, in the finnish version the homophobic slurs are replaced with a derogatory term for a person who is a drug addict. It really felt off and I had to google the word just to make sure it didn't mean anything homophobic, but now that I know it was meant to be homophobic it makes so much more sense.
FINALLY finished watching this after multiple sessions because I did not want to miss anything when I fell asleep. This is awesome, your way of presenting it was super engrossing, the book choice is fantastic, and I can’t wait to make my way slowly through the rest of your videos!!!!! What’s more is that I’m considering reading it, which is not typically how I feel coming off these sorts of videos- all over amazing job!!!!!
Omg I loved thissss, you did such a good job putting everything together in an interesting way! Thank you for thisss I know it must’ve taken a TON of time 🙏🏽 honestly at the end of watching it I just wanted more, I was hookeddd!
What if Julian (because he had the closest relationship with Henry) gave Henry the idea of doing bacchanals and then when the farmer died and Bunny turned out to be a problem. He gave Henry the idea to off bunny.
i literally did not sleep to finish this video, i loved it!! the secret history is one of my favorite books but i wanted to freshen up my memory so really, thank you for this
this is my favourite book of all time and no way you referenced criminal minds (my favourite tv show) and mikes mic as well I LOVE THIS 😭❤ I am in awe you literally left NOTHING out
Not me coming here after i read every chapter. 😂 to see if i got it all right. I stop watching the video right at where i left off in the book to stay spoiler free
yup! this book was also written and published during their on going affair and the public fodder it caused, i’ve always thought it was a clue that there was a “secret” affair between the twins
This genuinely made my day. Thank you so much for all you did to bring this to life. Your side comments gave me life! Excellent observations of one of my favorite novels
Of course there wasn't really no valid reason for murdering bunny or for richard helping them out to do so, but saying thay bunny had been "nothing but nice to him" is a reach. I feel like he was nice to him at first (charming like he is with everyone) but his toxic side slowly came out and he made a lot of mean remarks about richards past, lack of money, and was so jealous of him being in that group, closer to henry, towards the end. Henry and others in the group even told richard (or implied) that bun didn't like him much at all, unless of course this was unreliable too which it might be. I feel like the image we have of bunny's personality and mind is quite hazy ON PURPOSE.
i do think for the most part bunny had been nice to richard, his jabs were awkward and ill timed in the beginning but they only became toxic when bunny found out about the farmer and when richard knew that what they had done - i lowkey think richard started to turn up the amount of info he gave about bunny so that way he could justify what was about to happen cause he’s telling us a story knowing what happens in the end so it makes sense he’d soften the blow!
Richard lied to Bunny constantly and continued lying even after Bunny made it pretty clear that he knew R's stories were fake. Is it any wonder that Bunny was getting more and more fed up with him?
Thank you sooo much for this! I absolutely love this book, and your video was fantastic. It enlightened me about so many things that I can't wait to read the book again. I know I'll be coming back here to watch this video multiple times!
I read the book already, but this was so much fun to relive! I had this on while I cleaned my whole apartment (I've been putting it off for weeks). This was amazing and so nostalgic for me :) Thank you!
OMG this was so helpful. I just finished reading the book and don't get me wrong it was incredible but there's so much that happened and I was so confused from the end so this video was so HELPFUL!!!!
Hi, it's me again! 😅 Listening to you talking about clues that Henry and Camilla brought me back to high school when I didn't get that my two friends are together and my mom did! 😂
I am so interested in this story but did not want to read the book. You explained TSH so well and now I actually want to read it. Thank you so much for this video!!! Side note you are so pretty and I love your makeup so much 😭💗
I just finished reading the book. Am I really going to commit an extra 3 hours of my life to listening to someone unpack everything that happened in it? Maybe. But I think I need to stare at a wall for a couple days and ponder my existence first. I'm not too sure what I think of this book yet. So I'll put this on my watch later list for now and I'm excited to come back to it!
don’t forget to follow me on my other socials 😙
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"We have Charles and Camilla, the twins. When Richard first sees them he thinks they're dating, which, remember I told you that." I CACKLED OH BOY
LMAOOOO
Was that....a King Charlea and Queen Consort Camilla reference?
@@FIRING_BLIND yup apparently cuz the book came out in 1992 and the scandal came out in 1993
They are dating each other.
The only thing I'm 99% sure of with Richard is that he was hot. Judy immediately likes him for no apparent reason, Francis immediately demands if he wants to sleep with him, and the two girls that Richard sleeps with while at Hampton hit on him, not the other way around. Either he made all this up or this boy was fine as hell.
YUP even julian seems enamored by him when he first meets him i think richard being conventionally attractive and from california helped him a loooot
I'm not sure either Francis or Judy were that particular! But even so - you're spot on - our boy Richard seems to have an effortless physical appeal, despite his cranky, discouraging personality.
even sophie got with him and she was one of the most attractive females at the uni
yo i had never thought of that omg youre so right
orrr thats what he wanted us to believe lol. when u reread the book u realize how much was an unreliable narrator was him, he narrated half of the book with lies
My messed up brain was thinking that Julian was sleeping with Henry, a very impressionable young man who's able to lead, and was controlling him in order to carry out his deepest desires (like murder) without having to get his hands dirty. I'm kind of disappointed that the professor wasn't the antagonist. No, we got inscmest instead.
LMAOOOOOOOOOO
I was thinking exactly the same because of when Richard sees Henry kiss Julian on the cheek
That actually makes a lot of sense, considering ancient Greek philosophers used to sleep with their male pupils
I think that is a very valid reading; the pupils seem to regard the Lyceum as a place to engage in desires that might be looked down upon by outsiders: Julian & Henry as erastês/erômenos, Charles & Camilla's...relationship compared to that of the Olympian gods, Francis & Charles's relationship, and the Bacchanal. To add another dimension to your point, all of Julian's students are those who have troubled home lives -- Henry's & Richard's abusive fathers, Charles & Camilla being orphans, Francis raised by his grandfather, & Bunny's own upbringing. You can definitely read Julian as taking advantage of vulnerable young people by slotting himself in as a parental figure.
I think I’m going to view it this way now, even if it’s not real, because I like it better
“Brother, sister, gay, you, like what’s going on” 😂
My favourite quote from this video I stg 😭😭😭
"He got lieabetes" absolutely SENT ME
SUCH AN UNDERRATED LINE OMG
The fact italian renesainsse is so heavily based on greek mythology and henry can read hieroglyphics but not speak italian is wild
no i think he can speak italian
he can speak it, but hes not a naitive speaker, which is why he can communicate with the hotel staff (?) in Italy with no problem, but was hesitant to go to the doctors when he got the migrane
I feel like Richard and Julian are similar. Julian views the Greek club members as pieces in his collection of rare and interesting things, and that's really how Richard views them too. I wouldn't be surprised if Julian had a similar background to Richard (I don't remember the book mentioning his background, but I only read it once...) of growing up with an unimpressive family, and then just going out into the world, infiltrating other spaces and collecting new identities. They both also have pretty bad perceptive abilities; neither of them picked up on what the group did (to Bunny/the farmer) until it was explicitly laid out in front of them. Kind of adorably unaware. Or maybe it's willful ignorance because they prefer things to be enigmatic and alluring instead of facing the ugly truth.
*’Symbolic, symbolic, we see it Tartt…’*
*me throughout the entire book*
did i read the book? yes. did i watch all of this even tho? yes. loved it, this really is the vibe ahahahah
That makes two of us
love y’all heheh welcome 🤓
three now ❤
four of us
five now ❤
Julian is a massive red flag omg like seeing the story laid out like this there are so many signs
I hated Julian so much. He was such a hypocrite and a horrible role model and teacher. Seeing fans say "Julian my beloved" makes me CRINGE
He was classist and it reminded me of a less cool ,washed out version of Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Grey. The way he’s obsessed with beauty and aesthetic and tries to seduce almost his students and push them to explore beyond the morality which in both stories doesn’t end up well 🥲
The way even bunny recognized that Julian was a horrible person
@@alien9362 omg those two would be best friends if they knew eachother
Maybe it's reading this book in my thirties, but Julian as a middle aged man being obsessed with this young college students makes me cringe. Any older person trying to impress and influence younger people is always a huge red flag.
For folks who want to read or reread The Secret History, I would recommend reading the following first (in no particular order):
1.) The Rules of Attraction (1987) by Brent Easton Ellis
2.) Either the Bacchae by Euripides or the Oresteia by Aeschylus (or both -- they are fascinating works & I am not judging.)
------------------------------------------------
The reason I pose these works is that they might help someone get in the right headspace for trying to pick up what Tartt is putting down. Ellis is a comparable writer to Tartt not only due to having a shared background but also that The Rules of Attraction & The Secret History are very similar in terms of plot, deliberately confusing style, & how they relate to the "campus novel" genre. The characters try to fool the audience to buying into a particular perception of themselves when in actuality it does not line up with reality, which is much more like Rules of Attraction. The second group are there to help the reader pick what even the characters in the story do not recognize; despite presenting these characters as epic heroes & heroines, they are actually in a Greek Tragedy. Euripides's Bacchae is included for somewhat obvious reasons, but I also included The Oresteia as the archetypical tragedy but also because the "curse" of House Atreus is as much of a cycle of violence by broken characters believing they will be the ones to break the curse as it is an actual curse.
EDIT: Also, if you want a good film to go with The Secret History, I would highly recommend Rope (1948) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The reasons should be obvious.
Listen to it narrated by Donna tarrt.
wish Francis and Richard would've ended up together lmao
me asf
Me too.
Objectively the best retelling I have watched. It was incredible hearing it put into "vibes" so I can talk about this book and feel smart
hehehehe ur welcome baby
Listening to you I realize that I romanticided this book, better yet, all characters waaay too much. Gotta read it again, but not yet, just finished it 3 days ago. Thank you!
it’s ok!! lmao i did too i was all team k word bunny first time i read it
great recap🎀
i couldn’t stop thinking about this book so this helps with closure. I just wish Camilla was a more prominent character and that we knew her better, but it’s probably on purpose to symbolize that richard just romanticized her and that she was pretty much a concept in his mind, rather than a real person. also i am so mad at henry for some reason, i can’t stopppp he really annoyed me at the end
i really like richard and francis’ friendship though and judy poovey is my queen
and julian is WEIRD, the kiss henry gave him on the cheek or something, the 19 classes he had with him, even if julian didn’t orchestrate things, he is in some ways responsible for henry‘s sociopathic behavior.
but i love how this book made us feel like bonny just had to go and justify his murder with richard and the little cult they had going on. Henry is very interesting, i just feel like he and richard definitely had some serial killer tendencies and all the greek lectures talking about how to get out of your own head, the rituals, the romanticism of destruction just bred these feelings to become reality
it took me literally a year to read this because I was living in a really shitty apartment in the dead of winter and I had to keep the window open cause if I didn't literally MOLD would grow on my walls, and this coincided with Richard living with the hippy and it was like way too real so yeah I had to pause and wait till the warmer months
ur so cool lmaooo like i actually love this 🤭
this is one of the best video essays on the secret history ever it's so in depth and well-explained and your commentary adds a fun element so it's never boring. def gonna watch all your other vids lol
🤭🤭🫶🏽🫶🏽
i always thought Julian knew about the bacchanal and that they were attempting it but he never knew about the farmer. when richard asked didn't henry say theres no need to bother julian with things that might affect him or something like that? that's why i think at the end, henry was the "god of illusion" which was supposed to be the original title of the book. Because he's the one withholding the information as and when he likes, holding on to the illusions his intellect and appearance provide. why Julian finding out the truth about his star pupil really dishevels him because he's lost control of the illusion. it was henry who pushed the group to try out the bacchanal, he who debated which book would portray a better illusion of innocence and morality and ethics. Even his end was an illusion for the rest of the world.
edit: yup yup i checked sparknotes and even there ch 5 summary says that julian didnt know about the farmer only that the bachanal was a success. which makes sense as to why he left when he found out (my brain is processing the story half a month later) because 1: he realised for the first time that the people he was talking to, indulging in "play" with, not work, weren't educated adults whom he usually dealt with. they were young minds capable of molding and bending to an idolised person's will. it was the end of julian's own childlike fascination with everything mystic and mythic and realising how his words had real life consequences. and also why he didn't report to the police because 2: he realized that once the entire letter was submitted the truth about the farmer would come to light, and of course the reason behind it, the bacchanal, also would come to light and who else would be to blame but the elusive tax evasive man in the college who forced his students to only study with him and isolated the students to only be surrounded by his opinions, not letting them mingle with the normal crowd so they're able to see through the intense emulation julian was putting the students through and how unhealthy it was. that's why henry was also so offended at his cowardice because a man who spoke about living forever couldn't live one day in the presence of the consequences of his own actions. WOW WHAT AN END TO MY THOUGHT I HAVE COMPLETED EDUCATION GOOD NIGHT>
HAHAHAHAHA I love this comment especially the last sentence A+ bestie
@@moeblackx I love that you’re slowly making your way through all the comments I was waiting for you to read this
Idk how disillusioned Julian was with the mythic and mystic...I don't know if we have any evidence he saw any error in his approach to education or felt the consequences of his actions. I just read his disappearing as "You all weren't slick enough to keep this under wraps, and so you've ruined this good thing we had going. Now that I'm aware I can be implicated legally and I won't mixed up in this. You all are on your own." Like the worst parts of patriarchy and privledge, he just read as totally devoid of empathy and genuine care for other humans. He cared only for his taste for the sublime, his obsessions, and his own reputation and ability to continue investing in his own interests. And that's the true legacy he passed on to his students.
@@thegnome73 oh absolutely, he didn't see any fault. neither did anyone really, even richard says that he still remembers him in the mysterious elite persona Julian always put forth. in the two days it took me to process the end and the book in general, even though i'd read it over the course of 3 months, was that had julian not drilled into henry the beauty of a good story, the stories of heroes who give up everything for the right cause, he may have never killed himself. julian's exit shook henry to the core also but it was probably him clinging to the stability that he knew was right. because henry was the closest to julian and always wanted to emulate him. and thats why francis saw henry look at him with disapproval when he was trying to do the same. if its the real ghost then he already knows its not the right answer. idk i'm probably reaching but still this book has left my mind in a convoluted web i need ms tartt to sit and tell me why everything happened and what is the reason and psychology behind it
@@oftheearthbutfromthestars Man, I devoured it two days and I know I'm going to need to let my mind process it for a while. It's been about a month listen to others' analysis and theories and I know I'll need to reread it again. It's so amazing to find a book with enough substance for your mind to chew on you need to come back to it, you know?
You did the lord’s work with this video because I like to watch summaries after I read super long or interesting books to make sure I’m not dumb and I got everything 😂. Thanks for the content!
Julian is giving Horace Slughorn though
TEA!!!!!
I remember when this book first dropped, every girl I knew who was aged between 18 and 25 was obsessed with it.
i love this book so much, like this is amazing. also, i feel like we are due for a tv adaptation, like it needs to happen, but after the goldfinch flopped, i am thinking donna is not letting anyone touch this one lmao. if i were to adapt it, one thing i would enhance, besides making the cast diverse, is richard's incessant "I'm not gay, but..." like Richard would be clearly bi, and still infatuated with camila, and more involved with francis, and just very clearly in love with the idea of henry. idk why donna loves to write main characters that are like "well i hooked up with this guy, and also I'm basically in love with this guy, but I'm also obsessed with the idea of this girl so clearly i am straight and could never in many year be any type of queer" like Richard and theo why are you like this??
!!!! it reminds me very much of donnas own life, she was single for decades and then got together with neal who she met at Bennington, so maybe she’s alluding to her own relationship with queerness
in my personal opinion i just don’t think it would translate well onto the screen. and (i hate to say it) but part of the point of the book (to me at least) is their rich kid, white privilege so as much as i’d love to see a diversified cast i don’t think it would work as well as we’d hope. i just feel like it’d be hard to tel the story from richard’s pov as well as it was told in the book because a lot of the way the characters are perceived is richard’s fantasized dramatic version of the characters
i would absolutely love to see it i just don’t think it’d work the way fans hope it would
@@morgproffer4283 yeah, the more i think about it the more i see how it would not work on screen, it would take a complete rehaul of the thing, and at that point, just make something original
Thank you for letting me know there’s a Goldfinch movie, I must go watch now 🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️
this book has been sitting on my shelf for A YEAR and watching this video really made me wanna read the book despite the fact that i’ve spoiled it for myself 😭😭 anyways this was so interesting to watch and you gained a new subscriber
i liked before the video even started because THREE AND A HALF HOURS???? girl… (i’m so seated)
anything for y’all 🤭🤍
this was amazing and you explained a complex book in such a captivating way. i never finish video essays but i watched this one to completion. thank you for giving us this video!!!!!!
ahh!! thank you sm for the super thanks babe, glad to have you & happy you enjoyed the video 🤭
"Oh captain my captain" SENT ME. That's one of my favorite movies! Also, thank YOU for making this video. Girl you went THROUGH IT. I had to DNF at chapter 5. But this was a life savor and so well done!.THANK YOU
It find it hilarious that this book is about pretentious rich kids because Judy Poovey is *allegedly* based on Michelle Matland, the costume designer for Succession. Great video, btw!
3 and a half hours of pure gold thank u for your service
🫡 i am to please bestie
I didn't think I needed a 3,5h long video explaining this book after reading it like 4 times, but i did and i absolutely love it!
"he wouldn't pick bunny...but he would pick me" I LOVE IT!!
Donna Tartt descriptions are the best thing in the book! I love them! I have never red such beautiful descriptions.
I LOVE THIS BOOOOOOOIKKKK. I think reading it was the first time i had to periodically stop and wonder about the symbolism and meaning and if hold true for me. The writing is so realistic that i forget that its fiction. i love it. i would give up ten words from my vocabulary to know what henry whispered in camilla's ear.
ugh u deserve so much more recognition for this it’s great
from your lips to the algorithms ears hehehe
i also thought that the whole scene of the school mourning was how like commentary on how people make an event out of anything. the people who even knew him barely were mourning him like he was their closest friend, how they saw him dance ONCE or throw a beer can once. thats why it tied up with the analogy of the girl who did the unaliving and how the student rep or whatever used the same "we have lost a wonderful life today" speech that he used for bunny.
and also when the book is compared to if we were villains, i think the fact that no one went to jail was even a worse option for them because there was no absolving of guilt and they lost the one thing, which is julian's magic of it all, that mattered and tied them together the most. they lost the appeal to study it, they lost the idealistic and fancy foo foo world of classics they were living in. in IWWV, the dude goes to jail and things get resolved and he still loves shakespeare. he knows it was because of shakespeare that it all happened in the first place but he's still quoting the dialogues when he comes out of prison ten years later.
In a sense, not going to jail and having to live with the guilt is a great punishment. It's like that story I heard of the mom whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver and she sent him letters/photos from the girl every month and it tormented him with guilt to punish him for taking her life and he became an AA rep afterwards and got sober.
The secret history is a really good book to have a conversation on. I have read the book but this is a good way to understand perspectives and relive the book
So much admiration for you for making this craaaazy long video in honour of such a special book! The presentation style is really engaging, the 212 minutes fly by, and it does a great job at taking you through all the key plot points, while adding in lots of character notes and theories.
To be ultra pedantic, at 55:35, Charles *tries* to pull out the shard of glass from Camilla's foot but is too squeamish to do it seeing how much it hurts her, and Henry has to shove him aside and do it himself, establishing his capacity to act with unflinching efficiency in the face of an unpalatable task.
If I ever get around to making my short video eulogising about The Secret History, I'll definitely link viewers back to this splendid epic of yours!
this is my roman empire
LMAOO STOP
ilysm
Mike Mic! lmaooo YESSS I love his videos. I love this new genre of videos on TH-cam that describe fandoms visually
yes!! cant wait for his next lost video hehe
Me giving my bf a tsh lecture at 3 am because he said something vaguely related and I'm autistic
REAL
this is my favorite book of all time and i wanted to reread it this fall but it would take wayyy too long so this was the perfect way to relive it 🤭 thank you so much
hehehe happy to have you 😙
This was so good!! Thank you for this! I felt like I was in an English class with a cool teacher or something lol. I’m currently reading the book but I got half of it spoiled for me so I just decided to watch this so I knew what I was getting myself into 😂
LOVE somewhere in the multiverse im deff an english lit teacher hahaha sorry it was spoiled bae but happy to have you! 🤭🤭
9:44 'remember i told you that' LMAO
Watching this after I just finished the book. Thank you so much for making this it really allows us who read it to get a great summary and feel immersed again :> you’re a queen
This was great. I read the book but I loved watching this explanation and you made a lot of connections that I didn’t
Please do more long form book explanations like this!
will do bestie 🫡
i have been watching this video ever since i finished this book! i love how u summarize and sprinkle in your thoughts (ur so entertaining)! please do more summaries omg ur so great at it!!!! 🥰🤩
i'm loving this video!! i'm almost done reading the book, and i'll come back to this video to pick up where i left off! can't wait to see you recap the ending aaaa
🤫🤫🤫😙😙😙 can’t wait to have ya back bae hope you like the video!!
thank you girl, I watched 30 sec of Taylor Rosen telling about this book and I thought: yes I am now interested. But not in reading the book, I am into watching a 3h video explaining its most juicy parts.
Loved the book, ADORE this summary! Also: gonna introduce "LIE-abetes" to my everyday vocabulary, what a stroke of genius lmao
🤭🤭 hahahaha ily
i read the finnish translation of this book and the scene when Bunny and Richard are eating at the restaurant and Bunny is being a bigot, in the finnish version the homophobic slurs are replaced with a derogatory term for a person who is a drug addict. It really felt off and I had to google the word just to make sure it didn't mean anything homophobic, but now that I know it was meant to be homophobic it makes so much more sense.
oh wow!! so crazy how much can be lost in translation
FINALLY finished watching this after multiple sessions because I did not want to miss anything when I fell asleep. This is awesome, your way of presenting it was super engrossing, the book choice is fantastic, and I can’t wait to make my way slowly through the rest of your videos!!!!! What’s more is that I’m considering reading it, which is not typically how I feel coming off these sorts of videos- all over amazing job!!!!!
ahhhh !!! love to hear it bestie 🤭 if you do wanna read, the audio book is free on yt
@@moeblackx !!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhh you have no idea how helpful that is!!!! Will look it up!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!
Omg I loved thissss, you did such a good job putting everything together in an interesting way! Thank you for thisss I know it must’ve taken a TON of time 🙏🏽 honestly at the end of watching it I just wanted more, I was hookeddd!
ah yes!!! my footage was like 5 hrs long thank you for the love and support babe ❤❤
Anyone else keen to watch a video of the off-cuts from the editing process...?
Bro a three and a half hours recap of a book that’s interested me for years now? May both sides of ur pillow be cold and fortune favor you!!!!
GURL thanks a lot! Keep making more of these book explanations, you’re so good at explaining!
What if Julian (because he had the closest relationship with Henry) gave Henry the idea of doing bacchanals and then when the farmer died and Bunny turned out to be a problem. He gave Henry the idea to off bunny.
i literally did not sleep to finish this video, i loved it!! the secret history is one of my favorite books but i wanted to freshen up my memory so really, thank you for this
You’re amazing- keep up the great work inspiring the next generation of readers, sis!
:'''') made my day ilusm
This video inspired me to read more of Donna Tart's work, I'd love to hear you talk about the Goldfinch
tbh i’m not fond of goldfinch but i would definitely be down to do a video on why i didn’t like it 😔
this is my favourite book of all time and no way you referenced criminal minds (my favourite tv show) and mikes mic as well I LOVE THIS 😭❤ I am in awe you literally left NOTHING out
This is the best explanation. I love it so much. After reading the book, I am still obsessed
i’ve read the book twice but i can’t resist your storytelling.
:’)
i LOVE your hair it’s so pretty
thank you ❤❤❤
this is so accurate I literally watched it as I was reading the book it was so amazing and now I'm back here cause I constantly think about the book
@@sarahhmu happy 2 have u babe 🙂↔️
The best three hours of my life, please I need another book video
coming soon
i subbed simply because your commitment to this is unparalelled
🤭🤭🤭
Not me coming here after i read every chapter. 😂 to see if i got it all right. I stop watching the video right at where i left off in the book to stay spoiler free
thanks for tagging me! sorry im late to this :)
thanks for inspiring me to make this!! i’ve probs listened to your crescent city recap like 12 times lmaooooo
Just now accured to me- Camilla and Charles… listen again CAMILLA AND CHARLES. Just like prince Charles and Camilla Parker. But also… why???
yup! this book was also written and published during their on going affair and the public fodder it caused, i’ve always thought it was a clue that there was a “secret” affair between the twins
This genuinely made my day. Thank you so much for all you did to bring this to life. Your side comments gave me life! Excellent observations of one of my favorite novels
tysm angel! truth be told i’m having such a bad mental health day and this comment just made me smile 😭🫶🏽
Of course there wasn't really no valid reason for murdering bunny or for richard helping them out to do so, but saying thay bunny had been "nothing but nice to him" is a reach. I feel like he was nice to him at first (charming like he is with everyone) but his toxic side slowly came out and he made a lot of mean remarks about richards past, lack of money, and was so jealous of him being in that group, closer to henry, towards the end. Henry and others in the group even told richard (or implied) that bun didn't like him much at all, unless of course this was unreliable too which it might be. I feel like the image we have of bunny's personality and mind is quite hazy ON PURPOSE.
i do think for the most part bunny had been nice to richard, his jabs were awkward and ill timed in the beginning but they only became toxic when bunny found out about the farmer and when richard knew that what they had done - i lowkey think richard started to turn up the amount of info he gave about bunny so that way he could justify what was about to happen cause he’s telling us a story knowing what happens in the end so it makes sense he’d soften the blow!
Richard lied to Bunny constantly and continued lying even after Bunny made it pretty clear that he knew R's stories were fake. Is it any wonder that Bunny was getting more and more fed up with him?
Just finished this book and this video is what i needed to cure my hangover. My gosh that book was mind blowing
one if my favorite books!! your retelling was great i love how you frane the different bits
ty angel!! thx for sticking thru the whole thing :’)
Thank you sooo much for this! I absolutely love this book, and your video was fantastic. It enlightened me about so many things that I can't wait to read the book again. I know I'll be coming back here to watch this video multiple times!
made my day love glad you enjoyed 😙😭
PLEASE PLEASE MAKE MORE OF THESE !!!❤ I LOVES THIS
Literally love everything about this vid😊❤️❤️
🥹 thank you love
I read the book already, but this was so much fun to relive! I had this on while I cleaned my whole apartment (I've been putting it off for weeks). This was amazing and so nostalgic for me :) Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it! 🫶🏽
I keep coming back to this video. Never read this book but your breakdown is so entertaining.
This was TRULY a rollercoaster! Gonna binge your other videos!
i’ve already read it but i’m here anyway because i love this
THIS IS LITERALLY the best!!! Thank you!
thank u for being here 😚
OMG this was so helpful. I just finished reading the book and don't get me wrong it was incredible but there's so much that happened and I was so confused from the end so this video was so HELPFUL!!!!
THE DEDICATION!!!! I ate this up.
We sang “evacuate the dance floor” at the same time 😭 I love this so much
Love you for making this 3hr long explanation on This book. 😘
i've always wanted to read secret history but can't bring myself to open such a thick book, thank you for your service
the audio book is free on youtube if you like podcasts!! donna reads it herself and although it’s heavily debated i personally love her voice hehehe
Hi, it's me again! 😅
Listening to you talking about clues that Henry and Camilla brought me back to high school when I didn't get that my two friends are together and my mom did! 😂
hahahah love that
Your video really helped me finally understand this book (and I’ve read it!) - Thank you Moe❤
You're so welcome! 😙🫶🏽🫶🏽
GIRLLLL this is just what I’m looking for to debrief after reading!!! UHG ur so bestie for this 😭😭😭😭🩷
😙😙
I am so interested in this story but did not want to read the book. You explained TSH so well and now I actually want to read it. Thank you so much for this video!!! Side note you are so pretty and I love your makeup so much 😭💗
thank you angel :')
I can’t wait bc this is my fave book ever!
same baby same hope i did us justice !!!
Imma need you to do this for every book I’ve ever read pls and thank you 💕💕
i can’t believe this vid didn’t find me sooner!! you are so cute and this video was so well thought out! i could tell you spent a long time on it!!❤
Thank you so much!! 🤭
i love this channel already
🥹❤
i want to say, thank you so much!!! You just explain so perfectly, it was so interesting. Thank you again 🩶
this is a brilliantly produced video and I’m so engaged
"Everything but being a child of God" 🤣🤣
I just finished reading the book. Am I really going to commit an extra 3 hours of my life to listening to someone unpack everything that happened in it?
Maybe. But I think I need to stare at a wall for a couple days and ponder my existence first. I'm not too sure what I think of this book yet. So I'll put this on my watch later list for now and I'm excited to come back to it!
25:42 it's giving cult
1:25:54 lmfaoooo I was right
I yelled at the screen when you introduced Bunny because that boy is BLONDE. I see him as a Lukas Gage type
barry is my fan cast for him hehehe go watch my newest video we discuss it all bestie 😂
I've read this 3 times but I love people I talking about it so I had to watch 🙈
MEEEEE literally rewatching my own videos bc it’s my special interest