Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

602 reviews

lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

A satire book about privileged people.
A critique of elitism.

I think some people forget this are the main points of The Secret History.

Donna Tartt captured me. From beautiful writing to complex characters, I was engrossed. I rarely annotate my books (I only highlight important quotes and tab the pages), but I can't help but write my thoughts as I was reading this. I didn't dare finish this immediately since I wanted to fully immerse myself in the story.

At first I thought the pacing will throw me off... but the pacing made sense. I understand why Donna decided to write it this way - we're reading Richard's thoughts, which are scattered. He thought he needed to point out unnecessary details. We were in the mind of an unreliable narrator, which makes things more interesting, since we were forced to immerse ourselves in his thoughts.

The ending caught me off guard... but it made the most sense for the story. 

If you expect to fall on love with the characters, this is not for you. They are unlikable characters for a reason (you don't know how many times I said "these pretentious kids" out loud while reading). I have a soft spot for Francis, though. 

I get now why they say this is the mother/blueprint of dark academia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

golelifsu's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

esme_may's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

My deep hatred of

Bunny

knows no bounds. I knew it would be good but no one told me it would be Like This

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Outing, and Abandonment

siennakt30's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

rory_john14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Biphobia, Cancer, Child death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

raiynnn's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Islamophobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Self harm and Car accident

katiemcgregor's review

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

4.0

Donna Tartt wrote a book so satirical that it stopped being satire and became the face of Dark Academia and I think that's pretty neat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Incest

clarathromycin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Donna Tartt’s writing was excellent throughout the book.  The characters were strong and you could feel the anticipation build.  However, I did feel as if she was taking extraordinary liberties with the use of racial and homophobic slurs in the dialogue of her bigoted characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Infidelity

mrs_elliott19's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

“Love doesn’t conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.”

Blurb:

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of morality, their lives are changed profoundly and for ever.

The Secret History is a story of two parts; the chain of events that led to the death of a classmate—and what happened next.

Thoughts: 

Let me start off my review my saying I simple picked up this book due to seeing people gush about it over and over on instagram, and the fact that it was first published the year I was born. 

I’m not gonna lie, it took me a longggg time to read it, simply because the first half was almost so boring I almost didn’t finish it. 

But, in the end, I am glad I did. It is incredible slow at the beginning I will admit, but in the end, I am glad I stuck threw and finished its.

Content Warnings: Murder, Alcoholism, Suicide, Incest, Racist Slurs, Toxic Relationships, Drugs, Addiction, Animal Death, Bullying, A Little Sexual Contact, Hate Crime, Toxic Friendships – to list a few, you can find more on StoryGraph.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

astridslibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

I thought the characters, especially the female characters, were too flat and one-dimensional. I wish Camilla was described as something other than good looking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Vomit, and Murder