Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

364 reviews

librerin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

~ the intrigue ~
It was a really compelling story where I never really knew how it would end. However, I didn't always buy the characters or their actions. I wish there had been more time given to flushing out their relationships (part of the lack seems to have been intentional to add to the air of mystery, but sometimes that made the reveals feel underwhelming or undeserved). A neat aesthetic trek into dark academia, but with all its flaws too (whiteness, elitism, wealth).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Incest, Homophobia, Classism, and Self harm

norabeideineroma's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Misogyny, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Grief, Blood, Animal death, Biphobia, Car accident, Drug use, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Cursing, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

ilsabelle's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Classism, Violence, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Murder, Mental illness, Addiction, and Gun violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Incest, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Homophobia

deparme's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Alcoholism, Suicide, Addiction, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm, Grief, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Antisemitism, Chronic illness, Misogyny, and Blood

ains_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Classism, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Incest, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Vomit and Panic attacks/disorders

emimcmanis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Classism, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual content

angela_iseli's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Drug abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racism and Antisemitism

idahol7221's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Classism, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Incest

romy_elizabeth13's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I was initially expecting to read a really meaningful, deep, emotional, relaxing-(ish) novel when I picked up Donna Tart’s The Secret History. It ended up being one of the most dark, shocking, twisted, intense books I’ve ever read and it was incredible, oh my word. After reading all these tearjerking, emotional books about love and loss and life, it was nice to have something that kept me hanging on the edge of my seat, while still being incredibly intellectual and offering many interesting perspectives on life. Just when I thought the plot twists would stop, they kept coming in an ever flowing stream and I loved that. The characters, while incredibly flawed were really well written and their personalities were delved deep into. 100% worth the read but if you are under 14/very mature 13 year old, I wouldn’t recommend reading this book just yet. Overall really incredible - something tiktok was right about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Suicide, Alcohol, Gore, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Vomit, Incest, Classism, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

theeo's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I mostly enjoyed this! I found the plot to be a thrilling slow burn, and disliking the majority of the characters was strangely fun. The writing style is also really wonderful. The characters sometimes sound overly-formal, which at first is a little jarring, but it works because it adds to the weirdly entertaining unpleasantness of their personalities.

I disliked that some descriptions and details felt unnecessary - the author sometimes goes on tangents that don’t offer much substance or relevance to the plot, and almost feel like filler to an already rich story. This is more of a person gripe, but I also didn’t love how long the chapters were. I don’t like to stop mid-chapter (especially when I’m enjoying it) so I ended up sleeping too late on several occasions while reading this…

I did really enjoy this book overall! I may even reread one day, as it’s quite dense and I read it reasonably fast.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Suicide, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Incest

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, and Classism

Minor: Rape