Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

602 reviews

nyree's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Classism

flunkingout's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Incest

Minor: Rape

polpolpolulu's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I am absolutely in love with this The Secret History. Although the plot isn't seat gripping its evident that’s not the point of the story. You got to learn and bond with every character, and see how their true flaws have been hidden by Richards desire to be a part of their group. This story shows the wicked in the beautiful and that rarely is something as it seems. Donna depicts everything is such detail that you feel and perfectly imagine everything that Richard experiences. I would definitely re read this book in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

jennyooh_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

cyan_altaria's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

     The biggest problem with The Secret History is the pacing.  It was really slow, and the chapters felt padded.  The last three were especially long.  Chapter 6 & 7 could have easily been cut in half, and chapter 8 could have been cut down by a third.  The characters all felt too similar.  The only one of the main 6 who had distinct dialogue was Bunny.  The narration often felt rather pretentious, and it diverged to musings completely unrelated to the plot too many times.  The set up (ch. 1-3) also took a bit too long, but it wasn't as bad as the second part was.  
     The best part was ch. 4 & 5.  These chapters were honestly really engaging.  Alas, ch. 6-8 were a slog to get through.  Seeing the character's warped philosophy is what would've made the book shine, and ch. 4 & 5 are where it comes though the clearest.  In the end, this book was honestly not that good.

Who do I recommend this for? People who like very philosophical books, and die-hard fans of the dark academia genre
Who should consider giving this a pass? People who dislike books with obscure words, people who like fast paced books, people who need the main characters to be likeable, and people who hate over-description
Will I read more books by Donna Tartt? No.  This book was too slow and overwritten for my taste, and I'm not interested in giving her another shot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Incest, Violence, and Car accident

wreadin's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

liaandersson's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

I really enjoyed reading this book. I had heard great reviews and plenty of recommendations from friends with similar taste to mine. I can not claim to be disappointed in the least. I listened to the audiobook and was completely submerged into this world, this life. I truly understand the common sentiment that this is considered a dark academia classic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

eve_o's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

dead poets society in college with murder

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Incest, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

littletreetales's review against another edition

reflective medium-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

3.5

This book is not at all what people recommend it as. I liked the writing style, it was very easy to read, though it wasn’t really engaging and it never made me feel like I needed to know what was going on. It pretty much tells you from the beginning, and the ‘why’ of it all wasn’t really enough to grip me (maybe because the why was easy to guess and also incredibly stupid). But I just didn’t care. I could have stopped reading at any point and I wouldn’t have felt like I was losing anything. I almost did stop like half way through but I wanted to see if maybe the ending would change my mind (it didn’t). I don’t even need to talk about the characters because honestly they were less interesting than the plot and so, forgettable. I would say Henry almost managed to make it worth it but I lost all interest in him at some point and never got it back, even with his ending. Maybe it just wasn’t for me, but it didn’t manage to reach me at any point even though I wanted it to so badly *sigh*

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gun violence and Incest

rachel_here's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• 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, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism