Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

602 reviews

jelliestars's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Cultural appropriation

charlotte_luise's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I particularly enjoyed the morally grey characters and that they were very complex characters as well. An outstanding story, I’ve never read anything similar to this. Even though it took me approximately 200 pages to get into (which is a third of the book) and at times was a bit too slow paced for my liking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

lcyarnall1's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

standerson's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Outing

Minor: Rape

nicolelilac's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Incest, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal cruelty, Grief, and Classism

freddysreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

this book started so slow & finally paced up after like 400 pages. All very pretentious, characters very unlovable, involves many slurs & is sadly not directly critiquing the bourgeoisie as i would have liked it to do. rich kids basically fuck up & have money & do drugs & drink and read books. wow. not really groundbreaking.

anne_verhoef's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

After seeing everyone recommend this book for this time of year I had gotten quite curious because I had never heard of it before. So after a while I bought the book. It took me a long time to finish it (3 weeks) and it was quite a slow book but not that I wasn’t intrigued or appalled from reading it, I was so intrigued that I only wanted to continue reading it. It was anything but what I expected especially the ending and the scene at the hotel (I don’t wanna spoil everything). To sum it up I enjoyed it eventho I’ve read some totally opposite reviews

 The scene that got me most distraught was Henry killing himself in the hotel. That Charles gotten that drunk that he wanted to kill Henry, I understood. Maybe he wasn’t able to handle all the lies very well and living with the idea that they murdered an innocent man. But Henry.. no I didn’t see that coming. Was he planning this all along? That’s my question

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

elisabeth_with_an_ess's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

My first impulse when I started reading this book was to tell all the characters to drink some water and take a nap. That impulse strengthened all the way to the final page. Never have I been so irritated by a cast of characters, and also so compelled to see what they would do next. 

The Secret History is a story about murder, but the who and what are revealed right from the start. What remains is a fascinating, twisted exploration of the why and how. The writing is brilliant, at times making me feel as if I myself had committed the crime.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Incest, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, and Death of parent

linalina's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Classism

dingushotline's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, and Murder

Minor: Rape