Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

276 reviews

gaby13's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Incest, Physical abuse, and Self harm

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

erebus53's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

For a story with attractive writing and the occasionally beautiful truth of phrase, I have never read a book with more characters that I loathed. It is set in a university clique where the students so devote themselves to their study of ancient Greek, and their sycophantic affection for their tutor, that they become quite disconnected from the rest of campus and the real world. It's like you take cliquey academia and then turn it up to 11½. Not quite as schizophrenic as Bunny by Mona Awad, though one of the characters shares the same name, there is a sense that the narrator is not quite reliable.

I didn't get a clear sense of when this was set but I'm guessing that because it references anti-Arab race hatred and Sadam Hussein, that it would have to be about 1991, though most of it feels a little earlier than that. Maybe my perception of it is warped by it having been written before computers and cellphones were ubiquitous.

I was completely culturally at is with a bunch of characters who range from sociopathic to just mildly self-involved, all with a heaping helping of sense of entitlement... all the characters have bad or absent parents which is probably deliberate. These kids are almost adults, similes, and frequently inebriated. They are perfectly ok with tolerating friends as they demonstrate casual disregard for others, drink driving, kleptomania, infidelity, fraud, Racism, Sexism, religious bigotry, and stiffing others for the bill at expensive restaurants. These antics are presented to the narrator as endearing.. again; reliable??

When a classmate goes missing, I as a reader have the ethical question, would I have killed the horrible kid myself?! If I did would that make me a bad person? This kid is demonstrably awful, to mind. Does it matter that he was raised awful, by awful parents, and had a learning disability? Given support could he have improved? Who would have the patience!!!

The book drags. If the scenery had been nice I wouldn't mind so much, but I just wanted to kick all of the characters to the curb. I've been off-the-rails, drunk, clueless, far from home, and made bad decisions. I really liked the part of the story where our narrator has to live in a horrible free room, with a hole in the ceiling, through the coldest winter in ages, and there descriptions of going to common spaces and hanging out at the University because.. it's heated. That I could relate to. But the rest of it...?

I'm not sure why I do this to myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Rape

sassyjax's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

moonagedaydreamer's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

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

atalea's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

shellocopter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sunlitridges's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

My rating for this one keeps getting higher and higher bc while it didn't originally seem spectacular to me, I find myself thinking about it in my spare time immediately started re-reading to see if I can pick up on any details I previously missed. Also wonderful descriptions from the author. I'll likely read of few times 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Stalking

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

madalina0_0's review against another edition

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

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail