Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Secret History (Abridged Version) by Donna Tartt

1144 reviews

csmoke85's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, and Grief

lecta's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Suicide, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, and Incest

Minor: Animal death, Rape, and Suicide attempt

aliceaustin's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Suicide, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

sarahbeaman's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

this was lent to me by a friend as its her favourite book of all time (no pressure!) and despite a very slow start, it did not disappoint. tense and full of stressful twists, combined with a group of thoroughly unlikeable characters whose approval i wanted almost as badly as the main character richard did! lots of very sophisticated classical references which i’m sure would’ve enriched my experience, but the text is just as intriguing and readable without needing to research the deep meaning of each one. so different from my usual style but thoroughly enjoyable!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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

---

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.  

---

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

bugtickle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

It is a slow burn, this isn’t going to be a fast read…but as it got closer to the end the more I couldn’t put it down.  I found myself thinking more and more about the characters… who was the ring leader? How did they go from one problem to the next and make the choices they did? The group or mob mentality was interesting. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Alcohol

uncica's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

itsbumley's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Rape

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.

---

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