O, Donna!

We at TVC are prone to elegiac reveries from time to time, against which we struggle man-and-womanfully.  But we here, assessing Donna Tartt, must raise a flag of salutary concern about what appears to be the author’s not-so gentle decline.

Exhibit “A” – The Secret History

 

Look, it’s a tad superficial, a smidge orotund, and so rich in faux classicism that one clutches the stomach, but this is arguably a wonderfully entertaining and evocative novel, rich, romanticist and vivid.  But its also a pudding full of cliches and second hand tropes, which may be why no film-maker has ever managed to re-heat and serve.

 

 

 

 

Exhibit “B” – The Little Friend

After a brilliant start that had us believing Donna had got over ‘second album blues,’ The Little Friend goes off in a myriad directions, and then downhill as fast as you can say “Grand-Guignol”

 

 

 

Exhibit “C” – The Goldfinch

O, Donna!  A potboiler with pretensions?  Back to the drawing board…