Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

329 reviews

jupitervivienne's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious 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

My first 5 star read of the year. Just absolutely incredible writing, character study, and storytelling. Makes me want to get familiar with Greek and Classics just so I can understand this book on a deeper level. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Blood, Physical abuse, Violence, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Self harm, Rape, and Antisemitism

felofhe's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Incest, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

balibasa's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

1.0

Hard to read. Found it boring but, the book maybe just isn’t for me

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Drug use, Addiction, Incest, Violence, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, Rape, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Death

cbugsy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Incest, Violence, Suicide, and Self harm

misskitty14's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I expected to give this a 5 but it fell a little short; maybe expectations were too high. Considering this novel kickstarted Dark Academia back in 2020, I thought I would get way more of that aesthetic/mood from this book. I was surprised by how little description there was of the setting, and even the weather throughout much of the novel felt unseasonable (autumn seems to pass us by).

In many ways, the novel is a slow burn since we know from the opening pages what the climax is but there's a quickness to how the story unfolds. I enjoyed the long exploration of the characters' fall from grace and

the unraveling of a friendship group we thought was stronger and more close-knit

. 

Unsurprisingly, our narrator, Richard, was the least interesting. He exists solely to grant us access to this world and its characters. In fact, I feel like the ending, which petered out, reflects this. If the novel had ended a handful of pages earlier, its conclusion would have felt more powerful. Instead, our narrator (author) feels the need to go further and wrap up the arcs for characters we didn't care about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Suicide, Death, Gore, Alcoholism, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Misogyny, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Classism, and Self harm

redheadorganist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Grief, Suicide, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Alcoholism, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Blood, Cursing, and Murder

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Incest, and Infidelity

quixie's review against another edition

dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Blood, Mental illness, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Classism, and Death

briochebun's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

4 out of 5 ☆’s.

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

ੈ✩‧₊˚

The Secret History has been on my TBR for quite some time and I am so glad that I finally put some time aside to read it.

While I cannot say that my life was forever altered by this novel (though my feelings on that may change with time) I feel as though giving it anything less than 4 starts would be doing it an immense disservice. Readers of TSH will be able to see the impact that the novel has had on the Dark Academia genre and I think that in and of itself is an incredible feat that speaks to Tartt’s skill.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Outing, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, Medical content, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent

Minor: Kidnapping

caelinsullivan's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Self harm, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Homophobia, Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Islamophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Classism, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Misogyny, Addiction, and Incest

Minor: Sexual assault

dancingwithourhandstied's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.0

I really liked this. All the characters are very interesting and would be for analysis. It was really good, I really liked it. I think it’ll stay with me and I’ll be rereading it in some form soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Suicide, Death, Incest, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, and Car accident

Minor: Rape, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Self harm, and Death of parent