Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

1041 reviews

stargirlmyaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Incest, Antisemitism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, and Drug use

cmcrockford's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

Fiendish and brutal, closer to Waugh or Highsmith than many best sellers. Captures the horror of making friends at college then realizing these bastards are around you now allllll the time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Incest, Grief, Gun violence, Alcohol, Vomit, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Suicide, Violence, Homophobia, Classism, and Infidelity

nneka23's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

I found this story to be underwhelming at some points and intriguing at others. I listened to the audiobook version so maybe I wasn’t paying full attention the whole way through. But I couldn’t help wondering why  Richard made the decisions he made. When things started taking a dark turn, it seemed like there were so many opportunities for him to change course and separate himself from the group he wanted so desperately to be part of. I understand wanting to have a sense of belonging, but I can’t understand sticking around to be associated with such terrible people who committed such vile acts. This story was interesting enough for me to keep listening, simply because I wanted to know how it would all end. That said, there were many sections that seemed to drag on, which diminished some of my interest. The pace picks up within the third act and I noticed that was when I finally started getting into it. Overall, I think this story could have been told in fewer pages. I’d recommend this book if you’re interested in a slow-burn story about how elitism and hyper-intellectualism can have dangerous implications for anyone, but particularly for young people who are still finding their identities. 

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Content Warnings

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

faeblxde's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It's been 4 months since I've finished this book and I'm still thinking about it. Incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Sexual content, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Incest

place6o_ffct's review against another edition

Plot got too thin. Eventually it felt like just futzing around following the characters—and without the sense of progression from the plot, I got bored. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting

Minor: Incest

brot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Incest and Homophobia

1957s's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Death

Minor: Incest

saaturnslover's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

SO GOOOOD ARGHHHH

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Incest, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Classism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

nclovelock's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Racial slurs, Murder, Suicide, Drug use, Alcohol, Addiction, Blood, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

secre's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

I can't believe it's taken me this long to read this novel. It's been on my list for years and I finally settled down to read it and found one of my all time favourite novels, I think. Few novels have the daring to tell you exactly what is going to happen in the first two pages of the novel, and yet that is what Tartt does here, opening the novel with the murder and then skipping back in time to march you through to the inevitable conclusion. She also does it with a spectacularly unlikable cast of characters; every single one of them is at best morally grey and at worst a genuinely bad person. Yet despite this, her writing drew me in completely. It's a story about friendships, betrayals, guilt and a need to belong. It's beautifully written and captivating to fall into.

This is one of those books that just captivates you. Tartt excels at bringing the small university in Vermont to life and she excels at her characterisations, with every single one of the characters being vividly imagined, even at their most distasteful. She knits this group of arrogant young academics together as the plot draws on inexorably to Bunny's death. There's no whodunnit here. We know that from the start. What there is however is a wonderful portrayal of the relationships, the clashes, the self destruction and of course the descent into murder, all interwoven with an intellectual flair and a focus on the academics.

All in all, this was very much a book that I adored. I savoured it, reading it relatively slowly and enjoying being immersed in the group's insular little world. It's a book I will undoubtedly come back to again, and has convinced me to give The Goldfinch another try. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Suicide