Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

1998 reviews

dzejkopol's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ellagrady's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

I found it slow to start and questionable in the way certain topics were handled in the first part, almost DNFing because of it, not sure if it was a product of its time or making a point. I’m glad I stuck it out as about halfway through I was gripped, flying through it, fascinated by the moral fights the characters were balancing as the story progressed and the greatness of the spaces they navigated. It’s a tough read, so definitely one to be careful about, but something I couldn’t put down was I was invested. This isn’t a trope I typically gravitate towards, but I felt like I had to know what the hype was the book, maybe I fell into a similar hive mind the book follows. I will say I found the characters fascinating, though they were all deeply unlikable, but I think that’s what makes them so fascinating, they seemed very human and real even if they were often terrible. It felt a little long at times, some of the chapters went on unnecessarily, but Tarty’s writing kept me hooked and enthralled, feeling like I was right there alongside the characters, so she clearly knew what she was doing. 

I think the story did everything it was meant to, giving a satirical look at the wealthy academics at the liberal arts New England colleges, understanding the dynamics of the group, and turning the situation on its head to show how ridiculous these types of students can be. I wish it had more views than just Richard’s to get a better idea of what was really going on, but I do see the point of limiting it to just his rose-tinted, unreliable, and romanticized telling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

anna_pardo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

Bé, aquí hi ha molta tela a tallar i comentar!

El centraré en els personatges, que són fascinants i odiosos a la vegada. Perversos, egoistes, pedants, manipuladors i fatxendes. Grisos. Així que m'ha encantat detestar-los 😅 Sens dubte són, juntament amb l'ambientació, el punt fort de la novel·la.

Sobre la trama, diré que han passat 30 anys des de que es va escriure i a ulls d'ara no és res sorprenent ni novedós, malgrat la foscor i la perversió del que s'hi explica. Entenc que fascinés a un nínxol molt concret en el seu moment, però no entenc aquest revival que està visquent la novel·la ni que sigui el millor llibre en la vida de ningú.

Sigui com sigui m'ha tingut completament absorbida, està molt ben escrit i té molta mandanga que fa de bon comentar. I oh, com els he detestat a tots!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Classism

amberacks12's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.75

This book started out very addicting. On its face, it sounded like it was going to be the most boring book ever, and a couple chapters in I thought it actually was going to prove that wrong. Rich and pretentious white kids doing rich and pretentious white kid stuff, which, unfortunately for me, eventually turned out to actually be as boring as it sounds.
I would be lying if I didn’t admit that this book initially sucked me in. Donna Tartt’s writing style is sumptuous and beautiful. I’m convinced she could make the phone book into a beautiful piece of writing. And the tension that permeates the story from page one until about 30% had me addicted. It reminded me of Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, in that there was tension without necessarily anything happening to explain that tension. It’s a masterful way of writing. 
But then all of a sudden there was no mystery anymore. I wish she had ended the story there, about 50% in, to be honest. I almost considered giving up, but I just had to know how such buttoned up college students could become such nasty monsters, and how things could just completely spiral out of control. Once the tension was gone, in its place there were just some spoiled brats with no moral code doing things because they wanted to, with no thought for consequences, and they are just nasty gross individuals and I just didn’t care, about any of them or the direction their lives were going in. 
It says a lot that when I started out, I was listening at 1.25x speed and by the middle had it up to 2x. I was so bored, and grossed out. 
I am a little concerned for people who rave about this book, not going to lie. 
If all dark academia books follow this pattern, I don’t think the genre is for me. 
Although now I know the significance of the word bunny to dark academia, so that’s something. 

Writing style: 5
Enjoyment: 2.5
Emotional impact: 2
Educational value: 2
=2.8

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content

nenac0's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual violence

theycallmerash's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

This book begins quite slow but has a very exciting second half and a bit of a twist at the end that made my jaw drop. I was super impressed with the writing style, and although it was slow, I never felt like it droned on and on. The themes of morality, isolation, appearance, and manipulation were super interesting! Would definitely recommend it, but not for everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Classism

gianna89's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Blood, and Murder

unassumingdork's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

Such a fantastic read. I will definitely be reading all of Tartt’s other work, I can’t wait for her current project to come out. .25 star deduction for very minor things throughout the book I might’ve liked to see differently.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Incest, Racism, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia

sksrenninger's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

 

• I’ve never read Lord of the Flies, and now I feel like I might be missing some allusions. They both kill a guy with an animal name. Luckily, I *have read Gatsby. The American dream, everyone! It always ends in someone being in love with someone they can’t be with, and dead people. And apparently it doesn’t pay to be rich.
• I really love when I’m reading a book I enjoy and I look up after reading for a while to discover I still have 200 pages to go. That is… sort of this book. I enjoyed it, but at about the halfway point I skimmed the rest of the book because I lost patience. I still finished it for real, but it’s slow. It’s not the murder mystery / psychological thriller it sometimes gets billed as. 
• I really enjoyed the voice in this book, because it’s very authentic; it doesn’t waver. There were tons of words I didn’t know, which 1) I love in general and 2) I especially enjoyed since apparently Richard earns a phd in English by the time he starts writing. 
• Why does it feel like secret code every time someone addresses the narrator directly as Richard? It’s like they’re breaking the fourth wall.  
• “Do not fear. It is the mother. She is concerned with the dishonor of the son having to do with wine.” Did she try to translate this into Ancient Greek first? There is talk among the citizens!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape

zahliajayne's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

i have never been so hooked to a book from the beginning. 

it was only within the first 70 pages where i discovered that this was possibly going to be my favourite book of all time- and this still holds true after completion. 

the effortless descriptions are like turning back time and recognising the simplicity of youth. all the while, comparing to the most intricate of classic literature and greek ingenious. 

the story eventuates different to how i expected, which kept me intrigued and infatuated. it is surprising, this, because there were hardly any truely good qualities about any of the characters. however, you still are coerced into loving them. 

i will return to this story, and annotate it to the brink. i cannot wait return.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol