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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
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
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
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
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5☆
I don't even know what to say...I feel like I've just came back from war after finishing this. How am I meant to move on???? Although there were some parts I felt I had to push through, so much happened that i feel like i was actually a part of the group. Like I'd spent those three years by Richards side instead of the three days it took me to read this.
I don't even know what to say...I feel like I've just came back from war after finishing this. How am I meant to move on???? Although there were some parts I felt I had to push through, so much happened that i feel like i was actually a part of the group. Like I'd spent those three years by Richards side instead of the three days it took me to read this.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Found the characters to be insufferable and it just reminded me of so many snobby (horrible) people that it just didn't do it for me.
ok FINALLY read this after being told to read this by many people. probably would have loved this in high school but after (i am so sorry in advance) *studying the classics* it felt kind of reductive
but you know what? the prose was delicious; richard’s voice is super clear and the suspense reels you in so well, in that intentional train wreck kind of way… i felt like i was slowly and unsuccessfully opening a bag of chips in a silent classroom and everyone could hear.
EDIT: ok also i felt the need to just expound on something… the way that TSH portrays new england REALLLLY grinds my gears. like ok i get it i get it — we are seeing vermont the way that richard sees vermont; it’s snowy and rural and filled with lots of shabby-but-moneyed buildings etc,,, and the characters are constantly looking down on the locals to show the town vs gown / ivory tower phenomenon like i get that. BUT just on a visceral level it is frustrating to read this perspective. like this is how people who have never lived in new england talk about new england.
i don’t mind that we see the college town through richard’s rose coloured glasses; it makes sense that he sees things that way. what i take issue with, however, is the condescending depiction of the locals. like i understand that snobby liberal arts kids would look down on the locals as uneducated/lowly farmers… but given how central the setting is to TSH, i think its depiction of the locals as copy-and-paste, vaguely-christian bigots is lazy. like, of course these characters would be classist, but their prejudice should be grounded in the world they occupy. TLDR; donna tartt you’re from mississippi!! write a book about that instead of making classist caricatures of imaginary vermont evangelicals or chainsmokers from nashua, new hampshire. the shitty, paintbynumbers townspeople took me out of the story
but you know what? the prose was delicious; richard’s voice is super clear and the suspense reels you in so well, in that intentional train wreck kind of way… i felt like i was slowly and unsuccessfully opening a bag of chips in a silent classroom and everyone could hear.
EDIT: ok also i felt the need to just expound on something… the way that TSH portrays new england REALLLLY grinds my gears. like ok i get it i get it — we are seeing vermont the way that richard sees vermont; it’s snowy and rural and filled with lots of shabby-but-moneyed buildings etc,,, and the characters are constantly looking down on the locals to show the town vs gown / ivory tower phenomenon like i get that. BUT just on a visceral level it is frustrating to read this perspective. like this is how people who have never lived in new england talk about new england.
i don’t mind that we see the college town through richard’s rose coloured glasses; it makes sense that he sees things that way. what i take issue with, however, is the condescending depiction of the locals. like i understand that snobby liberal arts kids would look down on the locals as uneducated/lowly farmers… but given how central the setting is to TSH, i think its depiction of the locals as copy-and-paste, vaguely-christian bigots is lazy. like, of course these characters would be classist, but their prejudice should be grounded in the world they occupy. TLDR; donna tartt you’re from mississippi!! write a book about that instead of making classist caricatures of imaginary vermont evangelicals or chainsmokers from nashua, new hampshire. the shitty, paintbynumbers townspeople took me out of the story