Call number
FIC TAR
Collection
Genres
Publication
Knopf (2002), Edition: 1st, 576 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:The second novel by Donna Tartt, bestselling author of The Goldfinch (winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize), The Little Friend is a grandly ambitious and utterly riveting novel of childhood, innocence and evil. The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mothers Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents yard. Twelve years later Robins murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated. So it is that Robins sister Harrietunnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevensonsets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her towns rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her familys history of loss. Filled with hairpin turns of plot and a bustling, ridiculous humanity worthy of Dickens (The New York....… (more)
Subjects
Media reviews
Though the world Harriet discovers is unquestionably haunted, there is nothing magical about it, or about the furious, lyrical rationality of Tartt's voice. Her book is a ruthlessly precise reckoning of the world as it is -- drab, ugly, scary, inconclusive -- filtered through the bright colors and
Comparisons, in any case, are beside the point. This novel may be a hothouse flower, but like that fatal black tupelo tree, it has ''its own authority, its own darkness.'' ''This was the hallmark of Harriet's touch,'' Hely reflects. ''She could scare the daylights out of you, and you weren't even sure why.'' Harriet's gift is also Tartt's. ''The Little Friend'' might be described as a young-adult novel for grown-ups, since it can carry us back to the breathless state of adolescent literary discovery, when we read to be terrified beyond measure and, through our terror, to try to figure out the world and our place in it.
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impossible demands of childhood perception. It grips you like a fairy tale, but denies you the consoling assurance that it's all just make-believe.Comparisons, in any case, are beside the point. This novel may be a hothouse flower, but like that fatal black tupelo tree, it has ''its own authority, its own darkness.'' ''This was the hallmark of Harriet's touch,'' Hely reflects. ''She could scare the daylights out of you, and you weren't even sure why.'' Harriet's gift is also Tartt's. ''The Little Friend'' might be described as a young-adult novel for grown-ups, since it can carry us back to the breathless state of adolescent literary discovery, when we read to be terrified beyond measure and, through our terror, to try to figure out the world and our place in it.
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But this novel is not directly about a murder. It is about the effect that the murder has on the dead boy's family, and especially on his sister Harriet, who was less than a year old when he died, and is 12 when the novel begins. It is through Harriet's desire to come to terms with the past and
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find her brother's killer that Tartt paints her vision of family life in the American South. As Harriet trudges through one lonely summer, encountering misunderstanding, bereavement, solitude and straightforward cruelty, she drifts further and further into her obsessions. Eventually other, tougher, meaner characters are dragged into her warped world and she is almost destroyed by her attempts to exact pointless revenge on individuals who bear illogical grudges against her. Show Less
With its pre-teen sleuths on bicycles, its broad-brush villains and oddly invisible police, The Little Friend courts absurdity time and again. A novel about the force and fraud of children's literature, it shares plenty of improbable conventions with that genre. It also flirts at every stage with
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kitsch and, in so doing, muddles the categories of "literary" and "popular" fiction even more thoroughly than The Secret History did. Critical puritans (or merely Yankees) will point to its Dixie weakness for verbosity, caricature and melodrama. Yet the verbosity yields passages of mesmerising beauty; the caricature, stretches of delirious comedy; and the melodrama, moments of nerve-shredding excitement. Show Less
Southern Gothic is an American literary genre with no British equivalent. It uses lush prose with a strong sense of Southern literary heritage (Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor), is set in the former Confederacy, and features at least three of the following ingredients: insanity, incest, inbreeding,
Donna Tartt's second novel, The Little Friend, is a spacious and ambitious example of Southern Gothic.
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extreme meteorological phenomena, fundamentalist religion, corrupt preachers, slave-owner guilt, black rage, fading gentility, violent white trash, fragrant subtropical plants. At least one main character always dies.Donna Tartt's second novel, The Little Friend, is a spacious and ambitious example of Southern Gothic.
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Like her best-selling 1992 début, "The Secret History," this long-awaited second novel takes the shape of a murder mystery, but it's not really about a death at all. It's about a way of life.
Tartt, who was born in Mississippi, has set her new book in her home state, in a shabby riverside town
Tartt, who was born in Mississippi, has set her new book in her home state, in a shabby riverside town
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called Alexandria. From the start, it's clear that the corruptions that interest her most are the familiar ones: ingrained, almost casual racism; hostility between the white-trash "plain people" and the "town folk" like Robin's maternal relatives, the Cleves, with their faded aristocratic pretensions; andâinevitably, in the literature of the Southâthe stranglehold of the past. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Wish I'd known plot wouldn't resolve.
Extended review:
Brilliant prose, exceptional characters, vivid setting, gripping scenes, complex plot: how can a story have so many virtues and yet leave me feeling so ill-served?
I invested many hours in reading this 555-page novel, and it
That's not what I expected after reading the author's other two novels, and it's not what I expected from the implicit promises of this one.
It may be that that's life; but that's not a satisfying novel.
I'm not going to cite passages or quote noteworthy excerpts or praise the themes and motifs and figurative language, although I might have. Instead I'm just going to walk away; but I am going to call back over my shoulder and say, "And besides, you don't know how to conjugate 'lay.'"
Extended review:
Brilliant prose, exceptional characters, vivid setting, gripping scenes, complex plot: how can a story have so many virtues and yet leave me feeling so ill-served?
I invested many hours in reading this 555-page novel, and it
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wasn't until I actually reached the last page that it dawned on me that the author was going to leave me in ignorance: not just about the plot's driving question but about thread after thread of subplot and secondary character.That's not what I expected after reading the author's other two novels, and it's not what I expected from the implicit promises of this one.
It may be that that's life; but that's not a satisfying novel.
I'm not going to cite passages or quote noteworthy excerpts or praise the themes and motifs and figurative language, although I might have. Instead I'm just going to walk away; but I am going to call back over my shoulder and say, "And besides, you don't know how to conjugate 'lay.'"
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LibraryThing member mrstreme
I am a sucker for books set in the American South. Stories with sweet tea and back porches feel like home. That's why I was eager to read The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. Set in Mississippi, The Little Friend seemed to be the perfect book with all the right ingredients; however, by the midway
The edition of The Little Friend that I read was more than 600 pages, and in my opinion, it could have been half that length. The beginning of the book starts out promising. Tartt introduces us to Harriet, a precocious girl who has a strong spirit. We meet her mother, sister and a gaggle of great aunts - all of whom were interesting characters. We also meet Hely (pronounced Healy), who is Harriet's best friend and partner in crime. Quickly, we see that Harriet wants to learn more about the strange and sudden death of her older brother, and she sets her sights on a local man as a possible murder suspect.
Three hundred pages later, we're no further along in the plot then we were in the first chapter. Tartt's tangents were pleasant at first, but by the middle of the book, I wanted to get on with the story.
Finally, Tartt delivers us the inevitable "stand-off," and perhaps I was exhausted or bored or impatient - but the whole ending seemed too far-fetched. After a 600-page investment, I wanted something in return. Sadly, I was disappointed.
On the plus side, though, I commend Tartt for her vivid writing style. Her sentences were beautiful, and she eloquently depicted her characters and setting. It's a shame that the beauty of her writing got lost in a tangled yarn.
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2003, The Little Friend has received many accolades, so please be sure to consult other reviews. This just wasn't the book for me.
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point of this novel, I knew I was knee deep in a clunker.The edition of The Little Friend that I read was more than 600 pages, and in my opinion, it could have been half that length. The beginning of the book starts out promising. Tartt introduces us to Harriet, a precocious girl who has a strong spirit. We meet her mother, sister and a gaggle of great aunts - all of whom were interesting characters. We also meet Hely (pronounced Healy), who is Harriet's best friend and partner in crime. Quickly, we see that Harriet wants to learn more about the strange and sudden death of her older brother, and she sets her sights on a local man as a possible murder suspect.
Three hundred pages later, we're no further along in the plot then we were in the first chapter. Tartt's tangents were pleasant at first, but by the middle of the book, I wanted to get on with the story.
Finally, Tartt delivers us the inevitable "stand-off," and perhaps I was exhausted or bored or impatient - but the whole ending seemed too far-fetched. After a 600-page investment, I wanted something in return. Sadly, I was disappointed.
On the plus side, though, I commend Tartt for her vivid writing style. Her sentences were beautiful, and she eloquently depicted her characters and setting. It's a shame that the beauty of her writing got lost in a tangled yarn.
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2003, The Little Friend has received many accolades, so please be sure to consult other reviews. This just wasn't the book for me.
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LibraryThing member jayne_charles
Massively anticipated I am sure by everyone who enjoyed A Secret History. And it took such a long time to come along!
The first few pages - well, until the character of Harriet was introduced, really - were pretty hard going. I had to read them several times just to work out what was going on.
Tartt is great at creating characters, she lays on layers and layers of information, and her prose is magical. The oily landlord is a hoot, and the aunts are well differentiated even if they add less than one would expect to the actual plot.
Can the ending be forgiven? Not sure. It's not dissimilar to The Magus (which I thought was acceptable) and Cold Comfort Farm (which wasn't). All in all, if you like great writing it was worth the journey even if the destination disappoints. And the gag about the butterfly coccoon was absolutely priceless.
The first few pages - well, until the character of Harriet was introduced, really - were pretty hard going. I had to read them several times just to work out what was going on.
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Perseverance paid off and I did get into it in the end, though I still got stuck from time to time and found myself having to re-read.Tartt is great at creating characters, she lays on layers and layers of information, and her prose is magical. The oily landlord is a hoot, and the aunts are well differentiated even if they add less than one would expect to the actual plot.
Can the ending be forgiven? Not sure. It's not dissimilar to The Magus (which I thought was acceptable) and Cold Comfort Farm (which wasn't). All in all, if you like great writing it was worth the journey even if the destination disappoints. And the gag about the butterfly coccoon was absolutely priceless.
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LibraryThing member Lukerik
It's so beautifully written in vast multi-claused Victorian style sentences--but with a modern balance (no verb hunting).
It's a much more mature novel than The Secret History, with a healthy obsession with death; really, keep an eye out for death and he's everywhere, even apparently appearing
It's set in this odd male-less world, where the men have either died or left, except for the Hulls, who are trying to get in; and even they are associated with death: Hely is present at the cat's funeral and Pemberton is a lifeguard.
There's also a lot of commentary on social class. The Cleves' treatment of Odean is a particular shocker, and indeed, Harriet's choice of Robin's little friend as the murderer. She later doesn't remember why she picked him, so it's worth noting it as you read.
I could bang on for ages about all the clever correspondences between the Cleves and the Ratliffs, and the funny scenes scattered through the novel but I shall bow out and let you read the actual book.
It's a much more mature novel than The Secret History, with a healthy obsession with death; really, keep an eye out for death and he's everywhere, even apparently appearing
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physically and making his victims flap at him.It's set in this odd male-less world, where the men have either died or left, except for the Hulls, who are trying to get in; and even they are associated with death: Hely is present at the cat's funeral and Pemberton is a lifeguard.
There's also a lot of commentary on social class. The Cleves' treatment of Odean is a particular shocker, and indeed, Harriet's choice of Robin's little friend as the murderer. She later doesn't remember why she picked him, so it's worth noting it as you read.
I could bang on for ages about all the clever correspondences between the Cleves and the Ratliffs, and the funny scenes scattered through the novel but I shall bow out and let you read the actual book.
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LibraryThing member TheAmpersand
"The Little Friend" takes place in the heart of Faulkner country, but it's not Faulkner, and it doesn't aspire to the grand old man, either. Sure, some elements seem familiar: the Civil War (or, if you prefer, the War Between the States) still lingers, as do the effects of an unspeakable crime.
Harriet, the protagonist of "The Little Friend," will likely remind readers of the work of another Southern author: Harper Lee. And there is a lot of Scout Finch in her: she's a tomboy, precociously intelligent, and eager to understand the world of adults. Still, "The Little Friend" has little of the reassuring sense of home that, I suspect, brings so many readers back to "To Kill a Mockingbird." Harriet has been all but abandoned by her parents and is being raised by a collection of aging great-aunts. It's not enough parental guidance to get by on, since the world she lives in, caught someplace between rapidly disappearing Old South traditions and ascendent twentieth-century mass culture, is a place of real danger. I don't want to give too much away, although most readers will find Harriet memorable and sympathetic, I get the feeling that the "Little Friend" named in the title isn't so much a character but a characteristic that I can't remember seeing in Scout: a genuine capacity for evil. It seems that the literary South is still a perilous, haunted place.
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Blacks and whites live cheek-by-jowl without much comprehending each other, and many characters seem to spend their days ruminating on the past. Still,Tartt forgoes Faulkner's flowing, sometimes oppressively sensuous prose for he own crisp, intricate, meticulously descriptive style. Tartt, whose body of work isn't particularly extensive, just might be the rarest of creatures: a perfectionist whose efforts pay off handsomely. "The Little Friend" is six hundred pages long, but every piece is in place; Tartt doesn't so much as waste a word or fudge a detail. You don't so much read her intricate, carefully crafted sentences as much as burrow through them, but reading her prose can be an immensely satisfying experience. Her literary world, set in Alexandria, Mississippi of the seventies, is completely imagined, and she isn't afraid to describe her characters head-on for pages at a time, a high-wire act few writers would have the confidence to attempt. Prospective readers should be warned, however, Tartt leaves a number of plot storylines frustratingly unresolved. I suspect, too, that she's a writer more concerned with sentences than with whole novels and more interested in providing an accurate picture of a certain time and place than with just wrapping up a good yarn. Harriet, the protagonist of "The Little Friend," will likely remind readers of the work of another Southern author: Harper Lee. And there is a lot of Scout Finch in her: she's a tomboy, precociously intelligent, and eager to understand the world of adults. Still, "The Little Friend" has little of the reassuring sense of home that, I suspect, brings so many readers back to "To Kill a Mockingbird." Harriet has been all but abandoned by her parents and is being raised by a collection of aging great-aunts. It's not enough parental guidance to get by on, since the world she lives in, caught someplace between rapidly disappearing Old South traditions and ascendent twentieth-century mass culture, is a place of real danger. I don't want to give too much away, although most readers will find Harriet memorable and sympathetic, I get the feeling that the "Little Friend" named in the title isn't so much a character but a characteristic that I can't remember seeing in Scout: a genuine capacity for evil. It seems that the literary South is still a perilous, haunted place.
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LibraryThing member 50MinuteMermaid
Not nearly as compelling or ethereal as The Secret History; and the ending falls flat with a splat.
LibraryThing member Luna.Falena
Now that I have completed all three of Tartt's books, it's going to be difficult waiting another ten years for her to publish another one.
"The Little Friend" was very enjoyable to me. Having lived in Mississippi for quite a while myself, I could literally FEEL and completely understand every bit
I adored Harriet. I could relate to Harriet; her curious, serious nature despite being so young. The childhood nostalgia of this book was welcoming as well, even in the most frightening moments when the evil adult world clashes with the innocence of youth. Tartt did a remarkable job portraying the feel of the transition from innocent childhood into awkward adolescence-- not realizing it's happening until it's too late and you're looking back at a sealed door.
There's mystery, sadness, wonder and terror laced through-out the entire novel. I could feel it in my bones.
"The Little Friend" was very enjoyable to me. Having lived in Mississippi for quite a while myself, I could literally FEEL and completely understand every bit
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of the atmosphere that Tartt was expressing and she does it to a frightening perfection. The people, the weather, the way of life, the sounds... they all radiate right out of the pages. I adored Harriet. I could relate to Harriet; her curious, serious nature despite being so young. The childhood nostalgia of this book was welcoming as well, even in the most frightening moments when the evil adult world clashes with the innocence of youth. Tartt did a remarkable job portraying the feel of the transition from innocent childhood into awkward adolescence-- not realizing it's happening until it's too late and you're looking back at a sealed door.
There's mystery, sadness, wonder and terror laced through-out the entire novel. I could feel it in my bones.
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LibraryThing member tercat
This is one of my favorite books ever. I fell in love with Harriet--and Donna Tartt--almost immediately. (I read this one before reading The Secret History.)
LibraryThing member labwriter
This novel isn't for everyone, but those who enjoy modern Southern Gothic will like it. Set in a small Mississippi town in the 1970s, all of the gothic themes are in here--focusing on gloom, terror, and certain amount of confusion of good and evil; turning institutions like religion, education, and
Or, to put things more concretely, in the words of novelist Pat Conroy: "My mother, Southern to the bone, once told me, 'All Southern literature can be summed up in these words: On the night the hogs ate Willie, Mama died when she heard what Daddy did to Sister.'"
Those who need a pat and neatly-tied-up ending shouldn't read Tartt's book, or if they do will be disappointed. I couldn't put it down, mainly because I kept wanting to see where Tartt was going with this. I found myself getting lost in this thing and staying up late three nights in a row reading, which these days is very unusual for me. All I can say is, Tartt's writing cast a weird spell over me.
Harriet Cleve Dusfrsnes--12 years old, fierce, bossy, and unsupervised by those who ought to care about what troubles her. One of her great aunts says to her that it's "awful" being a child--"at the mercy of other people."
Tartt's third book, The Goldfinch is one of my favorite novels. This one isn't, but it certainly is memorable. Probably the highest praise I can give the book is that it makes me want to re-read my Flannery O'Connor.
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marriage on their head; showing the lies of society's rules and customs, and how the world is anything but an orderly and sensible place; demonstrating the corruption and hypocrisy of societies institutions; ripping apart common stereotypes.Or, to put things more concretely, in the words of novelist Pat Conroy: "My mother, Southern to the bone, once told me, 'All Southern literature can be summed up in these words: On the night the hogs ate Willie, Mama died when she heard what Daddy did to Sister.'"
Those who need a pat and neatly-tied-up ending shouldn't read Tartt's book, or if they do will be disappointed. I couldn't put it down, mainly because I kept wanting to see where Tartt was going with this. I found myself getting lost in this thing and staying up late three nights in a row reading, which these days is very unusual for me. All I can say is, Tartt's writing cast a weird spell over me.
Harriet Cleve Dusfrsnes--12 years old, fierce, bossy, and unsupervised by those who ought to care about what troubles her. One of her great aunts says to her that it's "awful" being a child--"at the mercy of other people."
Tartt's third book, The Goldfinch is one of my favorite novels. This one isn't, but it certainly is memorable. Probably the highest praise I can give the book is that it makes me want to re-read my Flannery O'Connor.
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LibraryThing member jtho
Harriet is a great character - I loved reading about her. The story was good, but slow in parts, though it really picked up at the end. The suspense of the last 100 pages kept me from putting the book down, but the ending was a disappointment. I didn't feel resolution from any of the major points I
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LibraryThing member Clurb
In itself I suppose this book held its own, but having read it after Secret History I was bitterly disappointed. It had nothing of the complex characterisation I was expecting.
LibraryThing member reganrule
Gracious! Less than a minute after finishing all I can say is: "Is that all there is? Really? Is. that. All. there. Is." This is Tartt's second novel--braced between her first & third in so many decades--& it is clearly her middle child, neglected in all sorts of ways.
Don't get me wrong, Tartt is a
To take but two random samplings as evidence:
"Even now, Weenie's death had the waxy sheen of the linoleum in Edie's kitchen; it had the crowded feel of her glass-front cabinets (an audience of plates ranked in galleries, goggling helplessly); the useless cheer of red dishcloths and cherry-patterned curtains." (355)
"Her blood pounded, her thoughts clattered and banged around her head like coins in a shaken piggy-bank and her legs were heavy, like running through mud or molasses in a nightmare and she couldn't make them go fast enough, couldn't make them go fast enough, couldn't tell if the crash and snap of twigs (like gunshots, unnaturally loud) was only the crashing of her own feet or feet crashing down the path behind her." (436)
In sum: this unnecessarily lengthy book doesnât deliver: she doesnât resolve the primary mystery. Is it supposed to lead us to ask âinterestingâ questions like: âIs Tartt--like the director Michael Haneke--intentionally withholding from her audience?â âIs Tartt subtly mocking Brett Easton Ellis by refusing to gratify her audienceâs interests?â âDid she forget to finish the novel?â
I will listen if someone gives me reason to believe I am being ungenerous in my assessment of this novel.
Don't get me wrong, Tartt is a
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very good hack. She structures periodic, multi-clausal sentences like a pro who's had ten years to revise them. EVERY sentence is unnecessarily effusively descriptive: twee-ly perfect & utterly gritless. To take but two random samplings as evidence:
"Even now, Weenie's death had the waxy sheen of the linoleum in Edie's kitchen; it had the crowded feel of her glass-front cabinets (an audience of plates ranked in galleries, goggling helplessly); the useless cheer of red dishcloths and cherry-patterned curtains." (355)
"Her blood pounded, her thoughts clattered and banged around her head like coins in a shaken piggy-bank and her legs were heavy, like running through mud or molasses in a nightmare and she couldn't make them go fast enough, couldn't make them go fast enough, couldn't tell if the crash and snap of twigs (like gunshots, unnaturally loud) was only the crashing of her own feet or feet crashing down the path behind her." (436)
In sum: this unnecessarily lengthy book doesnât deliver: she doesnât resolve the primary mystery. Is it supposed to lead us to ask âinterestingâ questions like: âIs Tartt--like the director Michael Haneke--intentionally withholding from her audience?â âIs Tartt subtly mocking Brett Easton Ellis by refusing to gratify her audienceâs interests?â âDid she forget to finish the novel?â
I will listen if someone gives me reason to believe I am being ungenerous in my assessment of this novel.
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LibraryThing member jpporter
I wish Donna Tartt would write faster. She is possibly one of the best writers in the English language; her prose is a treat to read, her characters seem like real people, her stories are not cut-and-paste, formulaic, novels. Her books are substantial - she takes the time, and commits the effort,
The Little Friend is the story of Harriet Cleve Dufresnes, a twelve-year-old whose brother, Robin, was found hanging from a tree in the backyard of the family's home when Harriet was just a baby. It was never determined what had happened to Robin, and Harriet sets it in her mind to resolve the mystery. Set in Alexandria, Mississippi, the story is rich with a sense of place (Tartt is from Mississippi).
Populating the story are Harriet's mother, Charlotte, who has not been able to come to grips with the death of Robin; Allison, Harriet's sister, who seems detached and sullen; Edith, Harriet's grandmother (and Charlotte's mother), a strong-willed woman who seems to command the family; Adelaide, Libby and Tat, Edith's sisters; and Hely, an eleven-year-old boy who idolizes Harriet.
Filling out the cast of characters are Ida Rhew, long-time maid in the Dufresnes household; the Ratliff brothers - Farish, Danny and Eugene - Mississippi white trash all of whom have spent time in jail (and, in Farish's case, a mental hospital); and - in absentia, for the most part - Dixon Dufresnes, Harriet's father, who, frustrated with Charlotte's inability to recover from Robin's death, found work in Nashville, Tennessee, visiting his family usually on holidays.
From these characters Tartt weaves an incredible narrative about coming of age, learning to accept responsibility for oneself, and recognizing that one's acts have impact on others.
The only real fault I can find in the book is that there are points where it seems longer than it needs to have been - a flaw that is easy to forgive when the result is just more of Tartt's beautiful writing.
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to tell a story in its whole.The Little Friend is the story of Harriet Cleve Dufresnes, a twelve-year-old whose brother, Robin, was found hanging from a tree in the backyard of the family's home when Harriet was just a baby. It was never determined what had happened to Robin, and Harriet sets it in her mind to resolve the mystery. Set in Alexandria, Mississippi, the story is rich with a sense of place (Tartt is from Mississippi).
Populating the story are Harriet's mother, Charlotte, who has not been able to come to grips with the death of Robin; Allison, Harriet's sister, who seems detached and sullen; Edith, Harriet's grandmother (and Charlotte's mother), a strong-willed woman who seems to command the family; Adelaide, Libby and Tat, Edith's sisters; and Hely, an eleven-year-old boy who idolizes Harriet.
Filling out the cast of characters are Ida Rhew, long-time maid in the Dufresnes household; the Ratliff brothers - Farish, Danny and Eugene - Mississippi white trash all of whom have spent time in jail (and, in Farish's case, a mental hospital); and - in absentia, for the most part - Dixon Dufresnes, Harriet's father, who, frustrated with Charlotte's inability to recover from Robin's death, found work in Nashville, Tennessee, visiting his family usually on holidays.
From these characters Tartt weaves an incredible narrative about coming of age, learning to accept responsibility for oneself, and recognizing that one's acts have impact on others.
The only real fault I can find in the book is that there are points where it seems longer than it needs to have been - a flaw that is easy to forgive when the result is just more of Tartt's beautiful writing.
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LibraryThing member mbmackay
This book contains some excellent writing, but doesn't quite it as an excellent book. The story is told from the perspective of 12 year old Harriet, whose elder brother died (was murdered?) some 11 years earlier. Harriet's quirky character is very well drawn, and her childish approach to problems
But the book fall a little short in narrative structure. The prologue paints a nice picture of a family history that grows and changes by retelling at family functions, only for there to be no more family functions or retelling over the next 600 pages. The central issue in the plot, who killed the brother, is not resolved at the end of the tale. The character of a young Odum girl from one of the low-life families who appears to be trying to rise from the mire is introduced, the appears once or twice more, but is never developed.
This is a good book that with a little more attention to plot development could have been a great book.
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and problem solving is true to life. Her family, the now poor descendants of a once wealthy southern US family, are also convincingly drawn. The bad guys, the drug dealing low-life Ratliffe family, are depicted with wonderfully excruciating candour - every hit of amphetamine, every bout of paranoia, every failure to take up an opportunity in life.But the book fall a little short in narrative structure. The prologue paints a nice picture of a family history that grows and changes by retelling at family functions, only for there to be no more family functions or retelling over the next 600 pages. The central issue in the plot, who killed the brother, is not resolved at the end of the tale. The character of a young Odum girl from one of the low-life families who appears to be trying to rise from the mire is introduced, the appears once or twice more, but is never developed.
This is a good book that with a little more attention to plot development could have been a great book.
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LibraryThing member brokenangelkisses
Donât judge this book by its seriously creepy cover. (Seriously. Creepy.)
If you did, you might miss out on a treat.
Whatâs it about?
13 year old Harriet is trying hard to grow up. Her reluctant entrance into adolescence is made worse by her parentsâ reactions to her long-dead brother: her
Whatâs it like?
Itâs not the work of crime fiction you might anticipate from the premise. It takes Harriet 100 pages â slightly less than a fifth of the entire book â to decide to investigate her brotherâs murder, and even then âinvestigateâ does not turn out to be the most appropriate verb for Harrietâs inept questioning of her elders or swift reaching of conclusions.
âTwelve years after Robinâs death, no one knew any more about how he had ended up hanged from a tree in his own yard than they had on the day it happened.â
Instead, Tartt has written a slice of life set in the American Deep South, where days are slow and folk are poor and no-one wants to think about poor Robinâs death. Having grown up in the South, presumably Tarttâs writing is accurate when it evokes a whole world in telling detail. She takes a whole paragraph to describe the tenor of a birdâs cry and describes a sign in detail. The novel is full of parentheses and dashes, throwaway details that bring Harrietâs world vividly to life. In some novels this would be the dross that a thorough editor would remove; in âThe Little Friendâ these details are what make the novel such a pleasure to meander though.
Tarttâs use of language is excellent. She makes regular use of collective nouns â Harriet burrows in a âdrift of bedclothesâ â which create a thorough sense of time, place and action. You can read for the simple pleasure of the words and the pictures they conjure up rather than being hooked by a plot.
Harriet herself is utterly convincing. She regularly does things with no idea why, before or after. She reaches decisions with absolute conviction after the briefest deliberation and will not be deterred. Her slightly younger friend, Hely, loves her in a similarly childish and determined way which Tartt captures perfectly when Hely reflects on his dream that âThen they would be married foreverâ. Other characters are equally believable and just as thoroughly drawn; there are no clichĂ©s or sketches here.
âHarriet stiffened, less at the burn (glossy red, with the fibrous, bloody sheen of raw membrane) than at his hands on her shoulders.â
This is a Bildungsroman with echoes of âHarriet the spyâ and âTo Kill a Mockingbirdâ. Itâs a depiction of a family in crisis, but a quiet kind of crisis, the kind reached years after the devastating event. Readers may yearn to shake Harrietâs mother, Charlotte, to point her attention towards her two living children, but as suits a book of this ilk, Tartt doesnât leave the reader in a hopeful place.
In fact, the ending is very abrupt, and I would have preferred greater closure, or even just an ending that focused more on the central character. Despite this it (mostly) works. In real life, there arenât simple answers or clear stopping points. If you prefer your fiction not to emulate real-life too closely then this may not be for you.
A more serious flaw, IMO, is the deeply unrealistic final fate of one of the more dangerous characters, Danny. In a less realistic novel it would be easy to skip over a less than convincing development, but in this novel, with its carefully realised characters and detailed character histories, the daftness of it sort of smacks you round the face and adds a bitter taste to a sad tale.
Who is Donna Tartt?
Tartt is renowned for her first novel âThe Secret Historyâ, which Iâve never read. It took her ten years to publish this, her second book, but she is adamant that this wasnât due to writerâs block or similar. She simply wanted the opportunity to research the book thoroughly and write it carefully, especially as she was deliberately taking on a very different approach by writing a âsymphonic [novel], like War and Peaceâ. This seems just as effective an approach as churning out a book a year in terms of sales as it gives her a bit of mystique in an industry that seems to think youâre out of date if your new hardback isnât ready prior to the release of your last paperback.
Conclusions
This is a good read if you enjoy a leisurely pace, lots of description and the opportunity to ponder the meaning of various symbols. If you want to know what actually happened to Robin, you may find yourself frustrated.
I enjoyed reading âThe Little Friendâ and have added a large tick next to âThe Secret Historyâ in my mental TBR list, but without the incentive of a book group meeting to motivate me Iâm not sure when Iâll feel I have the time to tackle it.
If you did, you might miss out on a treat.
Whatâs it about?
13 year old Harriet is trying hard to grow up. Her reluctant entrance into adolescence is made worse by her parentsâ reactions to her long-dead brother: her
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father has moved away, her mother has drifted away, her sister just sleeps. At the height of another dull summer, Harriet decides to get revenge on the person responsible for her familyâs disintegration: her brotherâs killer. But who is he? Harriet resolves to find out and punish him.Whatâs it like?
Itâs not the work of crime fiction you might anticipate from the premise. It takes Harriet 100 pages â slightly less than a fifth of the entire book â to decide to investigate her brotherâs murder, and even then âinvestigateâ does not turn out to be the most appropriate verb for Harrietâs inept questioning of her elders or swift reaching of conclusions.
âTwelve years after Robinâs death, no one knew any more about how he had ended up hanged from a tree in his own yard than they had on the day it happened.â
Instead, Tartt has written a slice of life set in the American Deep South, where days are slow and folk are poor and no-one wants to think about poor Robinâs death. Having grown up in the South, presumably Tarttâs writing is accurate when it evokes a whole world in telling detail. She takes a whole paragraph to describe the tenor of a birdâs cry and describes a sign in detail. The novel is full of parentheses and dashes, throwaway details that bring Harrietâs world vividly to life. In some novels this would be the dross that a thorough editor would remove; in âThe Little Friendâ these details are what make the novel such a pleasure to meander though.
Tarttâs use of language is excellent. She makes regular use of collective nouns â Harriet burrows in a âdrift of bedclothesâ â which create a thorough sense of time, place and action. You can read for the simple pleasure of the words and the pictures they conjure up rather than being hooked by a plot.
Harriet herself is utterly convincing. She regularly does things with no idea why, before or after. She reaches decisions with absolute conviction after the briefest deliberation and will not be deterred. Her slightly younger friend, Hely, loves her in a similarly childish and determined way which Tartt captures perfectly when Hely reflects on his dream that âThen they would be married foreverâ. Other characters are equally believable and just as thoroughly drawn; there are no clichĂ©s or sketches here.
âHarriet stiffened, less at the burn (glossy red, with the fibrous, bloody sheen of raw membrane) than at his hands on her shoulders.â
This is a Bildungsroman with echoes of âHarriet the spyâ and âTo Kill a Mockingbirdâ. Itâs a depiction of a family in crisis, but a quiet kind of crisis, the kind reached years after the devastating event. Readers may yearn to shake Harrietâs mother, Charlotte, to point her attention towards her two living children, but as suits a book of this ilk, Tartt doesnât leave the reader in a hopeful place.
In fact, the ending is very abrupt, and I would have preferred greater closure, or even just an ending that focused more on the central character. Despite this it (mostly) works. In real life, there arenât simple answers or clear stopping points. If you prefer your fiction not to emulate real-life too closely then this may not be for you.
A more serious flaw, IMO, is the deeply unrealistic final fate of one of the more dangerous characters, Danny. In a less realistic novel it would be easy to skip over a less than convincing development, but in this novel, with its carefully realised characters and detailed character histories, the daftness of it sort of smacks you round the face and adds a bitter taste to a sad tale.
Who is Donna Tartt?
Tartt is renowned for her first novel âThe Secret Historyâ, which Iâve never read. It took her ten years to publish this, her second book, but she is adamant that this wasnât due to writerâs block or similar. She simply wanted the opportunity to research the book thoroughly and write it carefully, especially as she was deliberately taking on a very different approach by writing a âsymphonic [novel], like War and Peaceâ. This seems just as effective an approach as churning out a book a year in terms of sales as it gives her a bit of mystique in an industry that seems to think youâre out of date if your new hardback isnât ready prior to the release of your last paperback.
Conclusions
This is a good read if you enjoy a leisurely pace, lots of description and the opportunity to ponder the meaning of various symbols. If you want to know what actually happened to Robin, you may find yourself frustrated.
I enjoyed reading âThe Little Friendâ and have added a large tick next to âThe Secret Historyâ in my mental TBR list, but without the incentive of a book group meeting to motivate me Iâm not sure when Iâll feel I have the time to tackle it.
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LibraryThing member dazzyj
An over thought, overwrought second novel. After the crisp and breathless pacing of The Secret History, the languor and longeurs of this book are a big disappointment. Tartt tries, and fails, to make up for the near total lack of incident with a surfeit of largely pointless description.
LibraryThing member bodachliath
Donna Tartt is a terrific storyteller, and this is as compelling as her other novels, an exploration of the culture, history and politics of the American south telling the story of a child growing up in a family haunted by the murder of her brother.
LibraryThing member samsheep
This wasn't what I thought it would be - I was expecting a murder mystery suspense but in fact it was more of a study of childhood and character with little plot to speak of. Nothing wrong with that as such - it was very well written and the characters were good, but lordy I found it depressing!
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And the ending was really unsatisfactory. Although I was caught up in it, it was not a happy reading experience. Show Less
LibraryThing member nohablo
As always, lushly written and with some great hard-hearted venom-blooded gristle, but, in a way, THE LITTLE FRIEND isn't quite as streamlined as THE SECRET HISTORY, and - as a result - suffers a bit. When she's successful, Tartt can be absolutely wonderful: she has a beautiful, poetic ear for
But here? Without the iron skeleton of a conventional thriller girding her prose, she dips into indulgence, and sometimes skids off her mark. Her gorgeous, decadent Southern-gothic prose can get a little purple and overripe, her meticulousness can clog the narrative's arteries, and, over all, the little cul-de-sacs and dips of her plot can seem, well, a little aimless. THE LITTLE FRIEND is hugely weighty, topping about 500 pages. And, frankly, not all those pages are necessary. Tartt's gilded the lily, and eh, you know. Shed a hundo or so pages, and you'd be in business, I figure.
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prose, and an artist's eye for detail; she's phenomenal at etching out the small gestures and tics of friendships and enmities; and, when she hits her groove, she builds the walls of a scene up and over your head, encasing you completely in her own tightly-controlled world. But here? Without the iron skeleton of a conventional thriller girding her prose, she dips into indulgence, and sometimes skids off her mark. Her gorgeous, decadent Southern-gothic prose can get a little purple and overripe, her meticulousness can clog the narrative's arteries, and, over all, the little cul-de-sacs and dips of her plot can seem, well, a little aimless. THE LITTLE FRIEND is hugely weighty, topping about 500 pages. And, frankly, not all those pages are necessary. Tartt's gilded the lily, and eh, you know. Shed a hundo or so pages, and you'd be in business, I figure.
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LibraryThing member GingerbreadMan
The Cleves are Old Money. Now the money is gone and the family estate sold, but the family, led by a quartet of old sisters, still hold a high social status is County Alexandria, Mississippi. Only really, things havenât been right for a long time. Twelve years ago Charlotteâs nine year old son
Thereâs a lot to like in this brick. The characters are colorful, and Tarttâs painting in fading hues of a Mississippi a few decades ago, full of everyday racism, poverty and abandoned property is vivid. I also like how she gradually lets games and phantasies become real and threatening, how careless words get real and tragic consequences and how Helyâs naivety goes from being annoying to really dangerous. But thereâs still something about this book that doesnât feel quite right. Itâs like it kicks in too late, and spend too much time fumbling for some sort of core. Itâs only the last 200 pages or so it becomes the page turner âThe secret historyâ was, and even then it falls into some dumb Enid Blyton-esque traps. I have a hunch this could have been a much better book. There are sparkles of greatness in here.
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Robin was murdered, hung from a tree branch is his own garden, and the culprit was never found. Now thirteen year old Harriet, a tough strange kid, lives in the shadow of her dead sibling. Her sister is etheric, her mum is a complete wreck ever since that horrid day and hardly leaves her bed. Harrietâs security is the four old ladies, and above all the housemaid Ida, as close to a real mother as sheâs ever had. But when Harriet stumbles over who the murderer might be, she is bent on revenge, of the real kind. Her friend Hely might think it an exciting game, but for Harriet this is no joke. The enemies sheâs going up against are the most dangerous around, and step by step sheâs getting closer to lines that canât be un-crossed again.Thereâs a lot to like in this brick. The characters are colorful, and Tarttâs painting in fading hues of a Mississippi a few decades ago, full of everyday racism, poverty and abandoned property is vivid. I also like how she gradually lets games and phantasies become real and threatening, how careless words get real and tragic consequences and how Helyâs naivety goes from being annoying to really dangerous. But thereâs still something about this book that doesnât feel quite right. Itâs like it kicks in too late, and spend too much time fumbling for some sort of core. Itâs only the last 200 pages or so it becomes the page turner âThe secret historyâ was, and even then it falls into some dumb Enid Blyton-esque traps. I have a hunch this could have been a much better book. There are sparkles of greatness in here.
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LibraryThing member sturlington
I was fairly disappointed in this novel, particularly because I enjoyed Tarttâs first novel, The Secret History, so much. The book opens with the horrific murder of a little boy in his own front yard, then picks up 12 years later, following his younger sister through a summer in a small
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Mississippi town. Despite some really interesting scenes â all of them involving gruesome encounters with snakes, coincidentally enough â the story never really finds its center, and the ending is both abrupt and unsatisfying. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookaholixanon
Sometimes, I do believe, one's expectations can completely ruin a book for a person. On the other hand, expectations can only infrequently enhance one's experience of a book. It took me three attempts, years apart, to get through The Little Friend ... but it was worth it! A wonderful book, and a
So ... unlike many readers here, I came to The Little Friend with zero expectations ... and, as advertised, once I was properly "immersed", I loved it. Did the author do my bidding for me and tell me everything I might have wanted to know by the story's end? No, but I don't ultimately believe that it makes sense to scold or berate an author for not writing a different book than the one she actually did write. To fully appreciate any book, but especially a book like this, we need â I certainly needed â to "surrender" to, to accept, the author's offering, on her own terms. Having done that, and on rereading it, I have to revise: 5 stars.
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unique heroine, young Harriet. Just read patiently and you will be richly rewarded. At first I wanted to give this book 4Âœ stars ... actually more like 4.4 because I'd "rounded down" to 4 ... but then something interesting happened ... I felt like I wanted to reread the book even though it hadn't been very long since I'd (yes, finally!) finished it. I wanted to re-immerse myself in the amazingly rich, strange, dark, frightening, alternatively heartbreaking and hilarious world of Harriet and her quest to find out who killed her brother Robin.So ... unlike many readers here, I came to The Little Friend with zero expectations ... and, as advertised, once I was properly "immersed", I loved it. Did the author do my bidding for me and tell me everything I might have wanted to know by the story's end? No, but I don't ultimately believe that it makes sense to scold or berate an author for not writing a different book than the one she actually did write. To fully appreciate any book, but especially a book like this, we need â I certainly needed â to "surrender" to, to accept, the author's offering, on her own terms. Having done that, and on rereading it, I have to revise: 5 stars.
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LibraryThing member Dufva
Tartt starts this novel in a very similar way to The Secret History, with a matter-of-fact reference to a murder. "For the rest of her life," it begins, "Charlotte Cleve would blame herself for her son's death because she had decided to have the Mother's Day dinner at six in the evening rather than
But this novel is not directly about a murder. It is about the effect that the murder has on the dead boy's family, and especially on his sister Harriet, who was less than a year old when he died, and is 12 when the novel begins. It is through Harriet's desire to come to terms with the past and find her brother's killer that Tartt paints her vision of family life in the American South.
The whole book, the entire portrait of a troubled family and all its relationships, stems from the unsolved murder of one young boy.
Because of Tartt's mastery of suspense, this book will grip most readers all the way through to its bitter end. But as you reach the last page, you may well feel a sense of relief. Although this is a large novel.
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noon, after church, which is when the Cleves usually had it."But this novel is not directly about a murder. It is about the effect that the murder has on the dead boy's family, and especially on his sister Harriet, who was less than a year old when he died, and is 12 when the novel begins. It is through Harriet's desire to come to terms with the past and find her brother's killer that Tartt paints her vision of family life in the American South.
The whole book, the entire portrait of a troubled family and all its relationships, stems from the unsolved murder of one young boy.
Because of Tartt's mastery of suspense, this book will grip most readers all the way through to its bitter end. But as you reach the last page, you may well feel a sense of relief. Although this is a large novel.
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LibraryThing member BrianDewey
Tartt, Donna. The Little Friend. Knopf, New York, 2002. I bought this book on the recommendation of a glowing review in The New York Times, and because I enjoyed The Secret History so much. However, this book was a disappointment. It has neither the erudition of The Secret History nor the simple
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"trueness" of To Kill a Mockingbird (the book evokes this comparison due to its setting in Mississippi and use of a young female narrator). The characters are one-dimensional; the "villians" are particularly unbelievable. This book was a huge disappointment. Show Less
LibraryThing member pam.enser
Okay. Maybe I should have read the reviews before attempting this. Everyone, whether they loved or hated it, describes the book as slow and descriptive. Which is fine. Except for audio books that you need to hold your attention. I couldn't listen to this for more than 5- 10 minutes at a time. I'm
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not going to give up on Tartt yet, I still want to read her other book. Show Less
Awards
Women's Prize for Fiction (Longlist — 2003)
WH Smith Literary Award (Winner — 2003)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Fiction — 2002)
Pages
576
ISBN
0679439382 / 9780679439387