The Little Friend

By: Donna Tartt

Narrated by: Karen White

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Goldfinch comes an utterly riveting novel set in Mississippi of childhood, innocence, and evil. • “Destined to become a special kind of classic.” —The New York Times Book Review

The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mother’s Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents’ yard. Twelve years later Robin’s murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated. So it is that Robin’s sister Harriet—unnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson--sets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her town’s rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her family’s history of loss. Filled with hairpin turns of plot and “a bustling, ridiculous humanity worthy of Dickens” (The New York Times Book Review), The Little Friend is a work of myriad enchantments by a writer of prodigious talent.©2002 Donna Tartt (P)2002 Books On Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

2003, Orange Prize for Fiction, Nominated

"This extraordinary book [has] a main character, a twelve-year-old girl named Harriet Cleve Dufresnes, who ranks up there with Huck Finn, Miss Havisham, Quentin Compson, and Philip Marlowe, fictional characters who don't seem in the least fictional.... To Kill a Mockingbird If is the childhood that everyone wanted and no one really had, The Little Friend is childhood as it is, by turns enchanting and terrifying." (Malcolm Jones, Newsweek)

"Breathtaking... A sublime tale rich in religious overtones, moral ambiguities, and violent, poetic acts... From its darkly enticing opening, we are held spellbound." (Lisa Shea, Elle)

"Languidly atmospheric...psychologically acute...A rich novel that takes you somewhere worth going." (The New Yorker)

"It is an exceptionally suspenseful, flawlessly written story." (Booklist)

Couldn't put it down

What made the experience of listening to The Little Friend the most enjoyable?

The richly drawn cast of characters is I think the main strength of this book. If you've ever spent time in the South, especially during the time frame she's set this story in, you will agree I think that she really nails it about how people interact, what small towns were like there, etc. The book revolves around an event that takes place (in memory) within the first chapter or so. The rest of the book is loosely organized around the mysterious circumstances that surround that event, a death. Eleven (?) year old Harriet, the central character, is worth the read all by herself. Donna Tarrt could not have done a better job in bringing her to life and making you care deeply about her. I laughed a lot as her thought processes unfolded, as she engaged in her amateur sleuth work, and as she enlisted the help of her adoring young friend with her plans. One reviewer mentioned Nancy Drew. Hardly. This is an adult book, with adult themes. I would challenge those who said it was too long to detail what parts of the plot/story they would have edited out. My book group could not come up with anything they'd have taken out, even though the length of the book is a bit daunting. It is a gripping story and you care deeply about many of the characters. The ending for many, including several in my book group, felt very unsatisfying, I will grant you that. But as we talked about it, we decided that this book was less mystery than it is a study of a time and a place and the ways in which people come to wrong conclusions based on their prejudices, misconceptions, and miscommunications. Those wrong conclusions change whole lives and can be tragic. Many things DO NOT get

Beautiful writing, but story loses its way

Any additional comments?

If I had been reading this novel, I might have put it down, since the story wanders and drifts. But listening to Karen White reading made it a much smoother ride. Tartt paints a lovely world, and she captures the spirit of childhood. No, check that. She nails it 100%. The characters bleed off the page, as does the setting. But don't expect a page turner, based on the opening paragraph.

Great Story, DIFFICULT Narrator

Donna Tartt is such a good writer. This book is wonderful, but, David Pitu or some alternative narrator for this unabridged version, would be so helpful.

Interesting

Enjoyed the different characters and the perspective of a 9year old
Girl in 1940$ south

The Little Friend

I loved this book. I did not want it to end. I felt very immersed in the characters and their environs, almost as if I literally dwelled among them. More from Donna Tartt I hope!!

Loved it enough to read it twice!

If you could sum up The Little Friend in three words, what would they be?

A fascinating and profoundly sad picture of how tragedy brings about a family's demise; divides, poisons and rots it right down to the heartwood.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Little Friend?

Harriet losing Ida, the only steady, dependable, loving presence in her world. She was never allowed to grieve for what must have been a devastating loss.

What does Karen White bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She brought life to the characters, representing them each with nuance. I disagree with those who say the narrator botched the Southern accent and colloquialisms. I'm from the South (although not from Georgia) and found White's narration to be adequately southern.

Who was the most memorable character of The Little Friend and why?

Harriet. Hands down. She was absolutely flesh-and-blood-real to me; so quirky and original. I was her age and growing up in a small town in the South at the time the story is set. What a great sidekick she would have made!

Any additional comments?

I read this book several years ago and it never left me. Decided to revisit it and wasn't disappointed!

Boring

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. It is too mired in detail and full of its own importance. Its just not a good story, and the narrator's southern accent is grating.

Would you recommend The Little Friend to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend that read or listen to Donna Tarrt's other books, The Goldfinch or The Secret History.

What three words best describe Karen White’s voice?

grating

Was The Little Friend worth the listening time?

No. I stopped listening after about 4 hours. It wasn't captivating me.

Any additional comments?

Too many loose threads and unanswered questions in this overly long book.

Cutting the fat...

I like Donna Tartt. I liked the Secret History a lot, I loved The Goldfinch. I don’t mind the long descriptions, the deep explorations of her characters. I like that her characters are rarely all good or bad, and that she makes you feel compassion even for the baddies. But I had trouble with The Little Friend because the scenes are stretchto uncomfortable length. They can feel belabored, overdone, even down right boring. What made things worse in this audiobook was the narrator. The was okay in dialogs, but the narrative parts were totally out of tune. She starts with an accents that drops sometime in the course of the book, and reads the whole thing as if to a class of preschoolers. I am
Not saying that one should not read this book, but one should make one’s opinion of Donna Tartt as a writer based on it. The Goldfinch is a much better option.

Excessively Long

I've read her other two novels and loved them! This wasn't a terrible story by any means--just long and dense but without necessity (in my opinion). I really struggled to get through it and the ending was anticlimactic for me.

Ending sucks

Ending gives no answers
Good book though. Enjoyed listening until the end. Didn’t get to find out who the murderer was.