Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

176 reviews

thimbler's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Homophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Vomit

jenpurlteach's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Minor: Incest, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

cryptofauna's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.0

um? idk how to feel. 
a bit overly literary and pretentious but i kind of feel like that was the point. meandering and dense as hell but also somehow very interesting and captivating. slow for a while at the beginning, and then alternates between very tense and thrilling and then back to slow for a while and then back. 
the characters were interesting and i was definitely drawn into the world for most of it but it was also just. really long? 
idk i feel like i struggle with more pretentious works because i feel like they don’t keep my attention as well, but i did read 90% of this in one day which is why i’m so conflicted. it clearly held my attention, and at some points i was excited to keep reading for sure but for a majority of it i was kind of continuing out of vague interest and also maybe because of sunk cost
some weird choices like

THE INCEST???? also felt like henry killing himself felt kind of random and out of the blue?? again may be intentional for it to feel weird i just don’t love it as the ending but idk what i would have preferred

it was good i guess but generally not for me is what i’m taking from this. i felt like i didn’t fully get it (??) and while i really liked some parts of it i came out feeling kind of ambivalent about spending like 6 hours on this book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Death of parent

shirumoon's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.5

Never good to get into a book because of a hype I feel like because my expectations were way too high. I mean yeah, it was really well written (though I must say, I didn't read the original edition in English) but so incredibly dragged out. The story captivated me enough to finish it but it didn't touch me emotionally and the twists and turns of the plot didn't really hit. Honestly more mystery leaning thrillers just may not entirely be the right genre for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

mx_sunshine's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

philosopher_kj's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death

marsm0th's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Donna Tartt’s debut novel takes you on a journey, that’s for sure. Tartt has an incredible way of presenting you with characters that you can’t help but be infuriated by and infatuated with. They suck, in plain terms— but in a way that doesn’t allow you to tear away from their stories. Fascinatingly complex, the characters and their motives reveal themselves layer by layer, leaving the full picture obscured.  In addition, Tartt displays a complex understanding of ancient literature, and leaves references that I, for one, quite enjoyed being in on. As the plot thickens, Donna Tartt does an incredible job of bleeding the tension onto the reader. I couldn’t look away, and I didn’t want to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Antisemitism

Minor: Rape

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

2.75

 This book has been on my TBR for a decade, and sadly, it disappointed.

The only thing that saved this book from being a 1 star read is the writing. The scenes are well-paced, the conversations natural, the descriptions--both of location and feeling--are extremely vivid. Unlike The Goldfinch, I was able to finish this book. Like The Goldfinch, I found the characters bland and insufferable. I really just could not empathize or even sympathize with any of them. When Bunny was alive, he was bigoted and not very likeable. Once he died, I did feel bad for him, but only because I am not a psychopath and I think murdering a friend because they found out you murdered someone else is bad, actually.

I did find myself actively enjoying the book after

Julian finds out that Henry (and the whole friend group, really) killed Bunny

. Richard is finally able to see how he built up Julian and the whole group to be these perfect, aspirational people, when really they're not perfect, not at all. I could feel his panic, and his disgust, and this is when he started to feel more real, and therefore more enjoyable.

Not really that important overall, but was I actually meant to believe that he's in love with Camilla?? I'd sooner believe that he's in love with Cloke. He definitely had much more believable chemistry with all the boys in the group (or even Judy) than he did with Camilla. Just like Meredith and Oliver(?) in If We Were Villains I don't buy it, I really don't. Stop with the forced heterosexuality, stop shoving that shit down my throat. /lh

ALSO we find out that, actually, Bunny was right and Camilla and Charles ARE fucking. ewewewewewewwwwww.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

katenaum's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Self harm, and Vomit

dillydallyallie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

WOW.

OH MY GOD THAT ENDING I WAS FREAKING ON A PLANE READING THAT

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism