The Little Friend- Book Review

THE LITTLE FRIEND

By Donna Tartt

Yesterday I finished my second Donna Tartt book, ‘The little friend’. This book made a great read and I would've rated it higher, only the ending left me feeling a bit let down. Tartt's writing takes me easily to a place and time that consists of Mississippi heat, chattering old ladies and a sadness that lingers after a child’s death years ago. The rich, captivating writing quickly summoned me into the characters worlds in the same way Tartt did in her first novel ‘The Secret History’. However, with ‘The secret history’ I knew where the book was heading. I didn’t know how it would end, but I felt the build up throughout and eventually when the climax reached its height. With ‘The little friend’ I thought I knew where the book was headed but instead of a climax, I was brought down and left perplexed; was the crime not to be solved after all? I read a lot of reviews on Goodreads and it could be argued I missed the actual point of the book. Though the book expresses itself as a murder mystery/thriller, the actual crime that takes place is not the issue to be resolved. I found this very hard to get my head around because when a book opens with a murder and unfolds itself as subject waiting to be resolved, naturally I want a resolve by the ending. Actually I was reminded of the recent film ‘Prisoners’ when reading this book. Firstly because of the horrific subject of child abuse/murder and secondly because of the sequences involving snakes. Both film and book left me in a very similar resolve and though I enjoyed them, I felt unsure where to place my emotions (which is rare for me). Am I being challenged in a new way because I am watching/reading new types of thrillers? Or is the nature of these books and films to feel numb by the finish? I will read Donna Tartt’s ‘The Goldfinch’ because though ‘The little friend’ disappointed me a little, I still felt very connected to the narratives and characters. There were some beautiful sequences, particularly those involving Harriet and her quest to become like the Great Houdini. Whilst training to hold her breath for 3 minutes, Harriet embarked on a fantastic vision/hallucination that took her body from conscious space to bizarre theatre hall with animal audiences and magician illusionist. The main aspects of character and human behaviour were explored in a plentiful way that contrasted noise with silence. A chorus of sound was conveyed through the warmth and fussiness of the aunts and the constant hum of Ida Rhew. This was then met with an extended interval of silence that found Harriet bleakly alone with her own thoughts in a silent house. Everything constant about the house slowly glided away until only a drifting mother remained, like a ghost in her sadness. I can only guess that the ending felt the way it did, because it was mimicking the unresolved feelings and limp emotions an unexplained death will bring. Like Harriet, we are left in the same indefinite void.