Ten years ago, Donna Tartt's first novel, The Secret History, created the kind of literary buzz currently only associated with Oprah. After a decade-long rest, Tartt has finally produced another novel and, not surprisingly, the actual book doesn't live up to the excitement of anticipating it. The deft literary style that Tartt displayed in her first novel only makes guest appearances in the second. The tightly woven plot critics gushed over? Well, that's largely absent too. What's left is simply a good novel with fascinating characters and an engaging story.
The Little Friend is the story of 12-year-old Harriet Cleve Dufresnes, whose family was torn apart by the murder of her older brother when she was a toddler. For most of her life, Harriet has lived with a grief-stricken mother who's more of an apparition than a living human being and a father that literally washed his hands of family life and left town. Harriett's older sister has withdrawn into her own world, leaving Harriett to knock around the house alone figuring the whole mess out. The problem with most books featuring child protagonists is that authors often have to resort to grafting too many adult notions onto them to make them believable. Tartt doesn't do that. Harriett is precocious and intelligent but she still applies kid logic to adult situations, which accounts for the novel's muddled plot. Only so much clarity and purpose can come from a 12-year-old.
Harriett devotes her summer vacation to finding — and killing — her brother's murderer. The plan is a bad one but its attempted execution makes a great story. Along the way, Harriett tangles with an overbearing grandmother, a worshiping young cohort and a bevy of aunts whose portrayal brings the Old South alive, and not always in a good way. One of the pleasures of the book is watching Harriett slowly discover that the people you love can sometimes be ridiculous, small and fallible.
So can authors that you love.
Tartt's descriptive phrases are often overwrought and she somehow makes the innocent and innocuous adverb annoying. Readers are given plenty of time to lament these defects as the story rambles on about three chapters too long. Still, The Little Friend is an excellent read for anyone who wants intelligent entertainment with emotional resonance rather than literary genius. —Rochelle Renford
This article appears in Dec 18-24, 2002.