One Thing Which I Think Gets Overlooked In The Discourse Surrounding TSH Is How Much Charles Changes

One thing which I think gets overlooked in the discourse surrounding TSH is how much Charles changes through the story. Before Bunny's murder, he and Camilla seem to be the heart of the group. They are sweet to each other, welcoming to Richard, and just generally seem much better adjusted and kind. Charles is vocal about the fact that even considering killing Bunny is awful, and I think he is pretty consistently against it. Yes, Charles is an alcoholic, but given the company he keeps and the trauma of losing his parents, it's hardly surprising. I don't think I ever got the sense of him being a mean drunk, just someone who struggles to deal with his daily reality and needs a form of escapism and a coping mechanism - albeit an unhealthy one.

The murder of Bunny and the fact that he's much more involved with the police, and starts (understandably) to hate Henry is, I think, what really turns him to the dark side. None of the main characters are good people, and all are made worse by the events of the book. Charles' arc, though, is arguably the darkest, most severe, and most noticeable. Perhaps it's the guilt, or having to interact with Bunny's family, or just the fact that nothing he does will ever be as bad as killing a trusted friend. Why would you care about being an ass when you're a murderer?

Wait I'm adding more:

Richard's narration would be hard to include I think, but it also needs to be there because it's such an integral part of the whole thing that it would really feel empty without it. There could also be some snippets in which we see 28yo Richard going about his life as his voice narrates. And there's this contrast between Hampden being chaotic and full of people while present Richard's ambience is all quiet and dull and with even darker visuals and he's always alone.

Actually there are so many scenes that are written in a very cinematic way to me. The way sometimes a scene gets suddenly interrupted. Like yes Bunny's murder getting cut off at the most important moment. Or when you see the dialogue and you know something must have happened right after but you never see it (prime example being 'Isn't that what you do to my sister every night?' lol). Or that point where they're looking at the newspaper and it jumps between what they're reading and what's happening around them! So fun I love it.

One really cool thing would be Bunny reaching the point where he doesn't look aesthetically pleasing anymore way before everyone else does. The others have more screentime so the process is slower, but Bunny's story ends right in the middle and you can immediately notice how he starts looking more and more disheveled the closer they get to the murder – which matches with the way his behavior gets progressively worse as well – while everyone else is still as perfect as they've been from the beginning.

Also what about the soundtrack. Would we get singular character themes for all of them. Give them to me.

Once again thinking about the fact that I really want a TSH series adaptation.

Would it suck? Most likely, yes. It would be extremely difficult (impossible?) to show Richard's unreliable narration. And there are so many little things, interactions and details which actually make the story what it is, that it would take a lot of time to cover them all on screen, even with a series – so, much of it would probably have to be cut out, and the overall thing would be affected by it.

Still... I think that it could be done. It would in no way compare to the novel, because of course it wouldn't, but I'm sure it has the potential to be something very good.

Especially since it could give the same feeling of the book through visuals. The atmosphere being colorful and warm when Richard first arrives at Hampden, only for it to gradually become darker and colder as the plot unravels (Bunny's murder being the event after which the shift becomes more evident), along with the characters becoming progressively more unsettling and less aesthetic – which is really how it felt to me.

CHARACTER ASK GAME!!! 💫

Send a character + one or more of these question!

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

11. Would you date this character?

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

23. Favorite picture of this character?

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

26. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

10 Times Camilla and Henry Were Obviously a Couple Before (anyone knew) They Were a Couple

Page numbers are from the April 2004 Vintage Contemporaries paperback published in the U.S.

10. There was a brief silence after she had finished; rather to my surprise, Henry winked solemnly at her from across the table. (p. 38)

9. “Henry, I wish you’d put me down. I’m too heavy for you.”   He smiled at her. There was a slight chip in one of his front teeth I’d never noticed before; it gave his smile a very engaging quality. “You’re light as a feather, he said.” (p. 98)

8. “What do you and Henry need a secret code for?”   “It’s not a secret.”   “Then why didn’t you tell me?”   “Charles, don’t be such a baby.” (p. 248)

7. Henry took the box from her and struck one himself; it flared up high and strong and she leaned close to it, one hand cupped around the flame and the other resting upon his wrist. (p. 309) Note: This is such a favorite of mine because it seems like such a tiny thing, but there’s a section break right after this—so we’re meant to focus on Camilla’s hand resting on Henry’s wrist, and on the act of lighting someone’s cigarette for them: an action that’s totally casual and yet remarkably intimate.

6.  Henry was distracted. The FBI had paid him another visit the night before—what they wanted he didn’t say—and he was talking on and on in a low voice about Schliemann’s Ilios…   …She hadn’t been there when I brought Charles home, and she looked like she’d just got out of bed herself; tousle-haired, no lipstick, wearing a gray wool sweater that came down past her wrists. (p. 369) Note: We find out later from Charles that Henry was so distraught that morning because he was “almost sure he was going to be arrested.” Charles also says that Camilla had no idea that Henry (and Charles himself) were in so much trouble. I very much doubt that: It’s almost certain that Camilla was with Henry all night. Was this the first time they slept together? I don’t know, but just two pages later, we get this:

5. “Leave me alone,” he muttered, seizing Camilla by the wrist and trying to push through to the door. (p. 371) Note: There’s only one other time Henry has been physically protective of Camilla, and that was at the lake when she cut her foot—a scene that Tartt obviously considered important enough to spend nearly four pages on. But is Henry shielding Camilla here, or reaching out to her as a lifeline? Either way, it’s a visible continuation of whatever went on between the two of them the night before.

4. “…I’ve heard her talking on the phone.”   “And saying what?”   “Oh nothing, but like two or three in the morning, whispering, you’ve got to wonder.” (p. 399)

3. “Do you suppose Henry’s all right?”   “Oh, he’s fine,” said Camilla, busy with knife and fork.   “How do you know?”   She paused, the fork in mid-air; her glance was like a light turned suddenly into my face. “Because I just saw him.”   “Where?”   “At his apartment. This morning.” (p. 425-426)

2. The twins weren’t like Henry; if they were home, they would generally answer the phone. But no one did answer, I dialed again and glanced at my watch. Eleven-twenty. I couldn’t think where Camilla would be that time of night. (p. 428)

1. …it wasn’t that though, but something else, indefinable, that somehow had changed since I had seen him last…   Henry glanced up. “Salve, amice,” he said, and a subtle animation flickered in his rigid features, usually so locked up, and distant…   “You look well,” I said to him, and he did. (p. 429)

Can't believe Richard randomly mentioned Henry's birthday party and then moved on like it was nothing. What do you mean they celebrated Henry's (LAST EVER) birthday all together at the country house and we didn't get to hear about it. What did they do what did they gift him how did Henry react to the whole thing I need to know everything

I think the secret history has fundamentally changed me as a person. And not just because of the beautiful writing, the story, the characters, but because I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a Richard and that this book was meant for all us Richards out there who crave something so deep in our soul that we’ll do anything to change the monotone existence we live now. Like Richard, I am obsessive in my core, I obsess over everything I hold dear to me and for the things I wish to gain. Like Richard I feel I am lacking any luster in my life and wish to have the classics filter set over my eyes to live the life I desire. Like Richard, I wish to be everything I am not and to do the things I feel are always out of reach. This book is for the Richards so that we don’t become Richard: an immoral shell of a human lost in time to a part of his life he simultaneously missed and feared