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just a bit of fun, another place to talk about books !!!

[currer-bell-1816]

What do you think would’ve happened if Henry had killed Charles? I don’t know if Camilla would’ve forgiven him. Even at the end, that is in the final chapter and not the epilogue, she’s happy to see him when he bursts into the hotel room. She goes to him after Henry slaps him. She didn’t know Henry was sending him whisky (on the advice of Francis) I don’t think Henry would’ve done a Bunny on Charles, but I think he was hoping he’d drink himself to death and was prepared to steer him in that direction. I think Henry’s death disillusioned her when it came to Charles. In the epilogue she doesn’t even seem bothered to no longer be in contact with him - and why should she be.

[currer-bell-1816]

You’re laughing. I call you in the middle of the night to tell you I’m having a heart attack when actually it’s a panic attack fuelled by being responsible for the deaths of two people, and you’re laughing.

[currer-bell-1816]

I wonder how Camilla would feel if she knew that Richard often describes her as masculine when trying to convey her beauty…

I hate to centre men in this post, but I do wonder how Henry saw her, in comparison to (weird) Richard.

[currer-bell-1816]

You’re laughing. I tell you, at aged 20, that I didn’t know that men landed on the moon and you’re laughing.

[castieln0vak]

Oh Ur so funny for this

[currer-bell-1816]

hehe thank you 🤭

[currer-bell-1816]

You’re laughing. I tell you, at aged 20, that I didn’t know that men landed on the moon and you’re laughing.

[arasaka-android]

"average man thinks about ancient rome 3 times per day" factoid actually just statistical error. average man thinks about ancient rome 0 times per day. henry winter, who lives in hampden, vermont & thinks about ancient cultures over 10,000 times each day, is an outlier and should not have been counted

[currer-bell-1816]

Rare aesthetic: having a nice dinner at your (secret) girlfriend’s house with your friends after having just attended the funeral of the friend you killed. Your girlfriend is wearing a salmon coloured dress, she looks beautiful. Her brother is telling you about how he managed to get a mirror up on the wall without smashing it. Later you find out that actually he threw a glass and your girlfriend, and that’s how the mirror broke. It’s time to plan another murder…

[currer-bell-1816]

Rare aesthetic: taking your annoying and immature friend on an all expenses paid holiday to Rome, only to become severely ill and bed bound for most of it, and then finally get better, only to realise your annoying friends managed to translate your Latin diary entries into English, thus discovering that you killed someone.

The reason why we needed multiple POVS for the secret history is because I’d absolutely love to know how Henry broke the news to Francis and twins that Bunny found out what they did all because he read a diary. I can imagine Francis being absolutely hysterical.

[currer-bell-1816]

Rare aesthetic: having date night in your hotel room then your insane and abusive brother bursts through the door to kill your boyfriend who then shoots himself in front of you

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

"Henry isolated Camilla" statement that's been floating around is so funny, because isolated from whom? Her brother who physically and s*xually abused her, had control and anger issues even before we (Richard) realized the abuse had started and was actually the one who had her isolated: "kept her on a tight leash and watched her like a hawk"?

Isolated from whom, her alleged friends? Richard who felt a violent urge to r*pe her because he was jealous that Camilla sought protection from Henry and felt no empathy for her when she revealed her injuries from Charles beating and burning her? Francis, who acknowledged that Charles was much worse to her than he expected and knew how "deep and nasty" it ran but did nothing about it and even made a snide comment about Camilla leading men on?

Why would Camilla want to see any of them?

Has that occurred to us? That Camilla could think for herself and rightfully decided that not only she didn't want to see them, but because it was actually dangerous for her? Because she needed to get away for at least a few days from them? Because Richard and Francis showed little to no empathy for her being abused and almost killed by Charles and would still tattle to him? It's good that Richard and Francis didn't completely abandon Charles, but that doesn't mean Camilla wasn't in danger. Henry put her in a hotel for a reason instead of his home. Because Charles might've did something stupid, like oh, show up with a fucking gun to kill Henry, and Camilla wouldn't be safe there but at the same time she needed Henry to financially and emotionally support her.

[currer-bell-1816]

Smoking on planes wasn’t properly banned until the 90s. The amount of cigarettes Henry must’ve smoked on the flight back to Vermont from his disastrous Rome trip with Bunny…

[minihistorian]

Noticed this striking little parallel between Camilla and Donna Tartt herself from an interview. Another thing: how is Henry being an ornithomantist never brought up again, and never talked about among fans? After a quick search, Google says three ravens can suggest impending doom or death, and I think it could represent the three main deaths in the book (the farmer, Bunny, and Henry). The interview is linked!

https://www.languageisavirus.com/donna-tartt/interviews-smartt-tartt-vanity-fair.php

[romanceyourdemons]

guy currently hurtling toward a migraine at a rate that would impress most astrophysicists: i wonder wgat is happening in my beautiful telephone

[currer-bell-1816]

Henry in Rome

[currer-bell-1816]

Camilla holds herself together remarkably well considering everything that happens: the bacchanal, being an accomplice to two murders, being abused by her own brother. She doesn’t often show her emotions. She cries towards the end when Henry and Charles have to appear in court, but that’s almost it. Bunny attempts to belittle her in a number of ways, most of which have 0 impact. She was, as Richard says, ‘impervious to slights about her appearance,’ but this doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have any insecurities in that department - she’s just good at pretending like she doesn’t or is desensitised to insults about her appearance. When Henry picks her up after she cuts her foot in the lake, she tells him to put her down, saying ‘I’m too heavy for you.’ Based on the way she’s described by Richard, she absolutely isn’t ‘too heavy,’ especially for Henry. It’s a small moment of vulnerability that we see from her. But why? Is it just natural human self consciousness? Is she worried about incurring Charles’ jealousy as she’s being held by Henry? Is it a sly allusion to Henry’s injury as we know he walks with a limp? Either way, the lake scene is one of my favourite moments of the novel.

[kinggggkuntaaaa]

richard’s name not being mentioned at all in bunny’s letter to julian is such a gut punch detail.

the betrayal bunny must’ve felt seeing richard at the ravine with the rest of the group would’ve been heart wrenching considering he went to him for help and excluded him from the letter completely ohhh my gosh.

[minihistorian]

I've never thought about this, this is heartbreaking.

[currer-bell-1816]

Maybe I’m just really cold bc I think well, if he hadn’t decided to torment and embarrass Richard, unprovoked, then he could’ve had an ally

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

Friendly reminder that Charles was controlling and violent long before he spiraled into being an alcoholic, and that pointing out how much he emotionally, physically and s*xually abused Camilla is not targeted hate towards him because he became an addict. Also, it's a common defense tactic abusers and r*pists use to explain away and shift their blame.

[currer-bell-1816]

The way Richard kisses Camilla at the Corcoran’s house after asking her who she speaks to on the phone at 3am. He was down so bad