Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

138 reviews

rory_john14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Biphobia, Cancer, Child death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

raiynnn's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Islamophobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Self harm and Car accident

sinaprst's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I don`t even know what to say about this. I just feel empty after reading this, like I don`t know what to do with my life.
Not in a very long time has a book captivated me the way that this has. I was and still am constantly thinking about it and I literally physically couldn`t put it down.
I can`t even really explain this and I think I will need some more time before I can properly find the words to describe my feelings towards this. I just know already though that this is going to stay with me for the rest of my life and that there will not be a day where I don`t think about this.
I almost feel like pulling a Dorian Gray, buying several copies of this book and binding them in different colours to fit my various moods.
 

I just wished that Richard just came out of the fucking closet already and got together with Francis. The two of them would`ve made so much more sense together than him and Camilla (whatever that was anyways). And no matter how many times he tries to convince me he`s straight, I will not believe him. His actions just speak against him. No straight man talks about his male friends the way he does. And even the way that he talks about Camilla just screams closeted queer man at me. Anyways, Francis deserved better!

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Mental illness, Suicide, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Car accident

gretag's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Car accident, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Vomit and Medical content

idajoh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

I've never once in my life wanted to analyze a book actively and in-debth before I read this book. I feel like I have to re-read to catch all the nuances

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Car accident, and Death of parent

nialiversuch's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse

gwen__'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

Undeniably a brilliant and outstanding novel. Tartt manages to give a vast impression of each character whilst those descriptions do not stick out at all; they blend neatly into the story. Her writing is enchanting and compelling, and it is what I so adore about this book. The plot itself did not appeal to me as much, but regardless of that, I enjoyed The secret history tremendously. That being said, it took me a while to get through it. This is no light read at all, but I would definetly consider it worth the while.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Classism

geilie's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Chronic illness, Homophobia, Incest, Grief, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

poppyfernbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 this book was wow. I’ve never read anything like it, my first crime book and I loved it, it was a tad complicated at times but not too hard at all, it was really interesting because there was not a
main loveable character, none of them were lovable really.

My word the bombshell of camilla and Charles and I just had a feeling that someone would kill themselves, Julian disappearing was a good touch. I also hoped that Richard would ask camilla to marry him, I wish she’d say yes but I suppose it reflects the book, I liked at the end how we found out what happened to everyone.

a very good read  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Murder

ggcd1981's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

Todas as pessoas que falam de livros em alguma plataforma já leram The Secret History, então senti a vontade de fazer parte do clube, e obtive um resultado um tanto misturado. “Altos” muito “Altos”, “Baixos” muito “Baixos”. The Secret History é basicamente um clássico moderno e é um excelente exemplo da estética Dark Academia. Esses também foram fatores que me motivaram a ler a obra de Donna Tartt. Primeiramente a escrita é muito boa, apesar de em alguns momentos parecer se esforçar demais em soar poética, mas antes pecar pelo esforço do que pelo desleixo. O livro é narrado por Richard Papen, um jovem normal da Califórnia com péssimo relacionamento com os pais que se transfere para Hampden College em Vermont. Devido ao seu interesse em Grego ele se torna parte de um grupo seleto de alunos que cursam a disciplina e são orientados pelo professor mais elitista da universidade, Julian Morrow. Esse grupo escolhido a dedo era composto do austero Henry Winter, Edmund (Bunny) Corcoran, os gêmeos Camilla e Charles Macaulay, Francis Abernathy e por fim o próprio Richard. A primeira metade do livro foi, do meu ponto de vista, a melhor parte.

Iniciamos sabendo do assassinato de Bunny pelas mãos dos seus amigos e passamos a seguir a narrativa de Richard de como chegaram aquele ponto. Assim não é um “who done it”, mas um “why done it”. Acompanhamos como o livro constrói a relação de Richard com os outros membros do grupo e como eles tem uma especial amizade. Essa parte foi interessante por que aumentou o suspense sobre como tudo foi para o brejo. Me encontrei extremamente interessada no relacionamento de Richard com o grupo em especial Henry, que em dado momento salvou Richard de morrer por hipotermia. Vemos, depois de um tempo, como Richard percebe uma mudança na dinâmica do grupo. Bunny, vindo de uma família de tradição porem sem dinheiro, passa a quase bully seus próprios amigos. Isso leva a descoberta de Richard de que o resto do grupo cometeu um assassinato, Bunny descobriu antes dele e estava, não intencionalmente, pois Bunny não via como tal, chantageando o grupo. A situação afeta a saúde mental de Bunny que se torna cada vez mais imprevisível e errático, se tornando claro que ele é uma bomba relógio para seus prévios amigos e estes acabam por mata-lo. Richard pela sua necessidade de pertencer ao grupo se torna cumplice no assassinato. Vemos o que acontece após o crime, ficando claro que Henry, Charles, Camila, Francis e até mesmo Richard tem algum, porém não muito remorso (sendo sincera não tive pena de Bunny pois ele era homofóbico, misógino, em resumo uma pessoa horrível). Eles participam da equipe de busca por Bunny, tem que lidar com a polícia e FBI e ao fim escapam, porém não facilmente, de qualquer acusação. Nesse ponto passamos do meio da história, e para mim toda a trajetória até aí tinha sido bastante intrigante. Porém a partir daí o livro se arrasta. A sensação é que a autora chegou no final, porém quis descobrir o que aconteceria se continuasse escrevendo. A narrativa se torna dispersa e acompanha vários momentos que não contribuem em nada. As pessoas chamam de um estudo do personagem, porém estes são pessoas tão horríveis que eu não tinha interesse em acompanhar seus percalços de assassinos brancos, privilegiados e impunes. Não preciso que eles fossem punidos para considerar o livro bom, porém após o principal mistério ser resolvido (porque e como eles mataram Bunny), acompanhar os humores desses personagens enquanto eles seguiam com a vida se tornou bastante tedioso (especialmente no capítulo interminável do velório e funeral de Bunny). Charles se tornou o mais irritante dos personagens, recorrendo ao alcoolismo e se comportando de forma inconsequente depois de perder a irmã gêmea (sim, incesto) para Henry. Outros pontos que não me agradaram: primeiro quão pouco foi mostrado da personalidade de Camila, única mulher dentre os principais personagens; segundo fiquei bastante interessada quando o livro insinuou um relacionamento amoroso entre Richard e Francis, porém a narrativa deu para trás e a autora optou por estabelecer os gêmeos Camila e Charles como os reais interesses amorosos da dupla e frustrar minhas expectativas. No final, que demora a chegar pois se arrasta, mesmo tendo escapado impune de dois assassinatos os personagens não tiveram “finais felizes”. Todos menos Henry, pois este se suicidou no clímax da segunda metade da obra, acabaram presos em vidas infelizes. A última cena do livro é um sonho de Richard em que ele troca algumas palavras com Henry, não sei exatamente o que deve ser tirado dessa cena. Que Henry que havia vivido entediado com o mundo também estava entediado na morte? Imagino que deve ter interpretações melhores da cena por aí.

Dou 3.5 estrelas pelas Dark Academia Vibes e pelos momentos bons do livro que foram bastante instigantes, mas não posso dar nota mais alta pelas longas sequencias, na minha opinião, tediosas. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Minor: Gore and Car accident