“The Secret Story” is a story about a murder. We learn that right in the first sentence of the book, so no surprises there. What we are going to discover throughout the book is what led to that murder and the consequences it had in the lives of those involved. Strongly based on Greek tragedies, the story is a tragedy of modern times.
It starts very innocently, when a young man is looking for a way out of what he considers his wretched life. By chance, as it was fate, he finds the brochure of a small and unknown university on the other side of the country. After earning a grant, he moves with the intention to never return again. Once there, he tries to enrol in a Greek class, to continue his previous studies. The problem is that the only Greek professor in the university takes very few students per year and registrations are already closed. Later though, almost as by change (or fate), he has an opportunity to be accepted, and he succeeds.
The class group is very restricted and soon they become very close and isolated from everyone else at the university. Yet, two elements of the group are going to be excluded from certain activities developed by the others. Such activities have dreadful consequences and those consequences lead to other consequences that lead to the decision of murdering one of them. The murder is planned for a long time and executed in a few seconds. After it is done, they live in peace with what they did for a while. When their Greek professor and some other students notice the murdered person is missing, the killers are asked if they know what happened to the missing person. Police are called and it becomes harder and harder for the murderers to deal with the secret they carry. In the end, each one follows their own path, quite different from the one they were supposed to follow. None of them really recovers from that murder.
QUIZ
1. Where did Richard spend his first Christmas holidays in the university?
- A. He accepted the invitation of one of his colleagues to spend it with their family.
B. He went back home, spending it with his parents, because he didn’t have any other choice.
C. He stayed in a room with no heating and with a hole in the roof, almost dying with a pneumonia.
2. What other options did they consider before deciding to kill Bunny?
- A. None.
B. They thought of going to the police and confessing, but they didn’t have the courage.
C. They thought of telling everything to Bunny’s parents to help them convince him to change university.
3. What happened to Henry?
- A. He moved to Argentina.
B. He killed himself.
C. He was arrested and accused of killing Bunny.
4. The activities developed by some elements of the group were encouraged by their Greek professor. How did he react when he learned the result of those experiences?
- A. He was happy because they yielded the results expected.
B. He helped them to cover up what happened.
C. He left the university and never contacted them again.
5. When did they realized the consequences of murdering Bunny?
- A. When the police started to investigate.
B. When they were at his funeral.
C. When the body was discovered.
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