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Overdue

Ep 094 - The Secret History, by Donna Tartt

Overdue

Headgum

Craig Getting, Arts, Books, Podcasts, Literature, Comedy, Andrew Cunningham

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2015

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Donna Tartt, a recent recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Goldfinch, broke onto the literary scene over twenty years ago with her debut novel The Secret History.

Set at a small Vermont college not unlike Tartt's alma mater, The Secret History explores how a singular tragedy forever defines the lives of six Classics students. Tune in as we discuss Bacchanalian rites, persona curation in the age of social media, dramatic irony in "whydunits", and 2015: The Year of the Fishman.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

While Andrew and Craig believe the joy of discovery is crucial to enjoying any well-told tale,

0:05.1

they will not shy away from spoiling specific story beats when necessary.

0:10.4

Plus, these are books you should have read by now.

0:30.8

So, I was at the supermarket today. I was going to buy some fish.

0:41.4

I don't know if you ever run into this problem. This is now a place I've

0:44.2

I'm used to running into this problem. I tried to buy something and a dude told me I was doing it wrong.

0:51.3

What does that mean? I tried to buy two pieces of fish and he said,

0:54.8

are you sure you want to do that? Do you want to buy this other fish?

1:00.5

Do you know about unit prices? I said, yes, there are no unit prices.

1:06.9

Okay. When has he just trying to get you to purchase things more efficiently? Look at the

1:15.4

price per pound instead of... Yeah, but he was also trying to get me to buy more fish than I needed.

1:21.2

But you could pay less to get more fish and then waste some fish.

1:25.6

But then I'm going to pay more for fish. I don't need that's the that's like Sam's Club

1:31.5

entire model of business is like you don't need 50 gallons of mayonnaise but look how cheap it is

1:39.7

compared to buying 50 individual gallon tubs. It's only one cent per mayonnaise.

1:46.5

You just got to get all the mayonnaise.

1:48.4

For unit of mayonnaise. Well, welcome to Overdo. This is a podcast about the books that you've

1:52.7

been meaning to read. My name is Craig. My name is Andrew. And you're not going to tell me how to buy

1:57.2

my fish. I'm going to buy whatever fish I want. Here's okay. Here's the. What was the thrilling

2:04.0

conclusion to this fish story? Like did you end up buying what you would set out to buy?

2:09.2

Did you listen to the strangers advice? No, he started going on. I had to shut him down. I said,

2:15.0

I need the two fish pieces that I want. Please. And he shot me a look like I'd stepped on his dog.

...

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