The Little Friend
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'In a literary age of diet and dearth, Tartt invites us to feast ... the opening tragedy strikes a note of rich, flamboyant Southern Gothic that resonates throughout' Independent 'You will rarely have read better ... Because of Tartt's mastery of suspense, this book will grip readers all the way through to its bitter end' Guardian 'Tartt's grip on this billowing plot is glue-like and her ability to evoke the Deep South of last century exceptional ... excellent, enthralling' Marie Claire, Book of the Month 'Destined to become a special kind of classic - a book that precocious young readers pluck from their parents' shelves and devour with surreptitious eagerness, thrilled to discover a writer who seems at once to read their minds and to offer up the sweet-and-sour fruits of exotic, forbidden knowledge' New York Times Book Review
Observer
‘Beautifully measured prose that sets the scene draws us into the extraordinary story that lingers long in the mind’
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Be aware: this isn't The Secret History.
But it is a very evocative book that reminded me simultaneously of To Kill a Mockingbird (a story told from a child's point of view) and Fargo (farcial criminals).
Twelve year old Harriet, fierce and determined, sets out to find the murderer of her older brother who died when she was a baby. Latching on to snippets of information, she sets her sights on Danny, a drugged-up-to-the-eyeballs criminal. Following him, haunting him, she can't see the consequences of her impulsive actions.
It's a self-indulgently long book, yet I couldn't stop reading it. The characters are richly individual. The setting of Mississippi was interesting - for a while I had a hard time figuring out the time period of the book. But what was particularly evocative for me was the long summer holiday - hot seemingly endless days, not much to do, kids looking for excitement...
Don't expect non-stop thrills, or an enthralling plot-line. It's a slow-burn, a twisting journey, beautifully written. I'm happy to have read it.
But it is a very evocative book that reminded me simultaneously of To Kill a Mockingbird (a story told from a child's point of view) and Fargo (farcial criminals).
Twelve year old Harriet, fierce and determined, sets out to find the murderer of her older brother who died when she was a baby. Latching on to snippets of information, she sets her sights on Danny, a drugged-up-to-the-eyeballs criminal. Following him, haunting him, she can't see the consequences of her impulsive actions.
It's a self-indulgently long book, yet I couldn't stop reading it. The characters are richly individual. The setting of Mississippi was interesting - for a while I had a hard time figuring out the time period of the book. But what was particularly evocative for me was the long summer holiday - hot seemingly endless days, not much to do, kids looking for excitement...
Don't expect non-stop thrills, or an enthralling plot-line. It's a slow-burn, a twisting journey, beautifully written. I'm happy to have read it.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The tragic events surrounding little Robin Cleave's death (found hanged in a tree just near his house) opens a hole in his family never again fulfilled with words about their feelings concerning this brutal murdered. All, except Harriet, Robin's younger sister (only a baby when all happen) that twelve years later as promised to herself to find out the entire true behind the strange murderer and get revenge from the one responsible for that.
At the beginning, "The Little Friend" seems committed, by the hand of Harriet (inspired by the great classics hero novels) and her friend Hely, to be a mystery-murder case urged to be solved. The story happens to be much more than that. In Harriet's actions, what seems to be a jump into the past, actually happens to be the key for further future dramatic events; cause and consequence, the inevitable expression of one's true nature, chaos, luck, destiny and all the unexplainable forces that drive one's life are the ingredients that takes along this story to its astonishing end.
Not like in "The Secret Story" where premeditation, sharpness and coldness were qualities surrounding characters, their emotions and events, in "The Little Friend" is exactly the opposite; a hot summer action taking place in Mississippi, is the perfect atmosphere for this strange and dangerous premise: sometimes reality can be much complex and absurd that our expectations, reveling strange and unexpected truths.
Brilliant well written.
At the beginning, "The Little Friend" seems committed, by the hand of Harriet (inspired by the great classics hero novels) and her friend Hely, to be a mystery-murder case urged to be solved. The story happens to be much more than that. In Harriet's actions, what seems to be a jump into the past, actually happens to be the key for further future dramatic events; cause and consequence, the inevitable expression of one's true nature, chaos, luck, destiny and all the unexplainable forces that drive one's life are the ingredients that takes along this story to its astonishing end.
Not like in "The Secret Story" where premeditation, sharpness and coldness were qualities surrounding characters, their emotions and events, in "The Little Friend" is exactly the opposite; a hot summer action taking place in Mississippi, is the perfect atmosphere for this strange and dangerous premise: sometimes reality can be much complex and absurd that our expectations, reveling strange and unexpected truths.
Brilliant well written.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Anyone that starts to read this book and isn't immediately swept up in the disastrous events that change this family's life forever, in the cloying atmosphere of small town America, and in the wonderfully descibed characters of Harriet, Robin, Aunt Edie and their family should probably not read any further, because this is the beauty of the book, and is its finest achivement - whipping up your interest and leaving you stranded in a hick town in a foreign country, entirely wrapped up in Harriet's world.
Tartt has created two families that are convincing in their relationships, and yet contain characters with distinct and defining characteristics. Each of the aunts has a clear personality and together they balance one another's strong wills. We learn about how they get along, and how they can be torn apart. Harriet is strong-willed and brutally honest, expecting the same honesty from those around her. She is confused by their white lies and small town logic, and that is exactly what causes so much destruction in the end.
The Ratcliff's are less easy to relate to and can seem cartoon-like with their drug-induced paranoia and thwarted efforts to turn their lives around. Evil Gum is so weak, calculated and destructive compared with Edie's strength and ingenuity, and poor Danny and Eugene are just as lost as Allison and Harriet. Both sets of siblings are struggling against events and forces that are beyong their control, and that's why we end up rooting for both sides as they collide into one another in such confusion.
I think this is a great novel, beautifully written in places, a little too long and a little self-indulgent in others. Sometimes Tartt drifts into descriptions of the surroundings that could either have been left out completely, or would have been better placed elsewhere, as they have a tendency to interrupt the drama. However, if you're looking to get involved in a place, time and characters that are realistic in their complexities and frustrating in their many faults, and if you're happy to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good read, this a great book for you.
Tartt has created two families that are convincing in their relationships, and yet contain characters with distinct and defining characteristics. Each of the aunts has a clear personality and together they balance one another's strong wills. We learn about how they get along, and how they can be torn apart. Harriet is strong-willed and brutally honest, expecting the same honesty from those around her. She is confused by their white lies and small town logic, and that is exactly what causes so much destruction in the end.
The Ratcliff's are less easy to relate to and can seem cartoon-like with their drug-induced paranoia and thwarted efforts to turn their lives around. Evil Gum is so weak, calculated and destructive compared with Edie's strength and ingenuity, and poor Danny and Eugene are just as lost as Allison and Harriet. Both sets of siblings are struggling against events and forces that are beyong their control, and that's why we end up rooting for both sides as they collide into one another in such confusion.
I think this is a great novel, beautifully written in places, a little too long and a little self-indulgent in others. Sometimes Tartt drifts into descriptions of the surroundings that could either have been left out completely, or would have been better placed elsewhere, as they have a tendency to interrupt the drama. However, if you're looking to get involved in a place, time and characters that are realistic in their complexities and frustrating in their many faults, and if you're happy to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good read, this a great book for you.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A long read but worth it
It took me a while to get into this story but when I did I couldn't put it down. While the title might be reminiscent of a ghost story - at first I thought it might be - it isn't a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by James Andrews
Such a disapointment
Maybe the author's celebrity-status meant no one felt able to tell her that this novel is in desperate need of a really good edit. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Book Critic
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
I must tell you about a book that I read at the weekend. Whenever my daughter or I go to the doctor's surgery we always get 4 secondhand books from there (they sell them 4 for £1)... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Linda
amazing!
This is a long book but I did not want it to end. I cried when it did and it took me a few days to pick up another book unusually for me. Read more
Published 10 months ago by atypicalpen
Gripping
This was is one of the best books I've ever read. Gripping, thrilling, totally absorbing: I couldn't put it down. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Lynnky
**WARNING**
Donna Tartt's 'The Little Friend'arrived in perfect condition, brand new (although advertised as second hand). Read more
Published 15 months ago by HappyFeet
One of the best books I've ever read
I loved The Secret History but for some reason was put off by the subject matter of The Little Friend, and it lay on my bookshelf for a few years. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Miss Hall
A Little Frustration
After The Secret History, one primes onself for another piece of wonderful fiction from Ms Tartt that blurs the literary and popular genres. Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2010 by Brolyn
Lamest ending ever
I really enjoyed reading this, and was carried away by the prose until I discovered at the end that the whole thing petered out as though the deadline was approaching and the... Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2010 by J. Smith
Brilliant characters and setting, but meanders to an unsatisfying...
I read this before The Secret History, so genuinely had no preconceptions. I found it to be a wonderful and accomplished debut novel but with a disappointing ending. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2010 by Little Miss Average
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
