Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

309 reviews

helhas3letters's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Never have I read about a group of people so pretentious yet so vapid, so snobbish yet so thick, so self-involved yet so empty, so exhausting yet so inexcusably BORING.

Not a single one of these characters is likeable (perhaps maybe Georges LaForgue), so I just did not care one bit about what happened to them. And what on earth is with everyone

being utterly obsessed with and casually kissing Camilla?!? This woman is apparently a prop for everyone else to project their desires onto.

An awful lot of male gaze for a book written by a woman.

In terms of the plot, it’s incredibly repetitive and moves frustratingly slowly. Aside from the two or three main events that take place in this story, there is just far too much waiting around, moving back and forth between locations, and nothing happening for my liking. I honestly don’t understand the point of large chunks of this novel, nor certain characters who do not affect the story or world whatsoever.

I thought the ending was pretty bizarre too. Why did it become a

“where are they now”? And why does it include the most random characters?! Including the cat we were introduced to about 20 pages ago?!? To be fair, I cared more about that cat than I did most of the main characters, but still. A strange choice.

Some people love this book but for me, I can’t help but feel it was a massive waste of time. I kept hoping it would get better, but for 600 pages, it never did. I persisted past where it would have been sensible to give up and in the future, I will trust my DNF instincts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Death of parent, Outing, and Classism

maygetdizzy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

stratospheric's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

abhea_reads's review against another edition

4.75

"england was so wowed by the secret history they named their king and ~camilla~ after the twins" — I wrote that before even finishing the first ⅕ of the book and I had no idea how true it would turn out to be

 

I love linguistics so much and this book would get 5 stars if slurs didn't jump scare me every time I started to feel safe again

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Incest, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Rape

abigailhaagen's review against another edition

dark mysterious

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Story was incredibly well-told, the characters very fleshed-out, and I was engrossed and read almost 400 pages in one day. However, it also romanticized a lot of unhealthy behaviors, which probably wasn't great for me mentally (no, Abigail, you can't return to college to study Ancient Greek while drinking bourbon and smoking cigars

and plotting murders

smh)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Antisemitism

goldbs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Gaslighting

pakrat1237's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death and Incest

the_neeerd's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is my favorite book because everyone in it sucks so bad. not a single character makes a good choice. and then they all make each other worse. If you take this book seriously, you're missing the point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, and Grief

thisiserintehe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I have so much to say about this book, and yet nothing to say at all. It arguably made me a more intelligent person.
If there was only one book in the world, it would be this one. 
My most favourite book ever <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

georgialee01's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Blood