Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

299 reviews

bookishfaye's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

2.0

This book is very comparable to movie Saltburn in the sense that they both tragically fail at representing and continue to perpetuate the issues they are meant to be commentaries of. This very much reads like it was written by a rich white nepo baby & I have so many issues with it. Pretty much every -ism/-obia occurs in here in super unnecessary & gross ways & it got to the point where I was only holding on to be able to say that i’ve read it. The second star is because I’ll give Donna the grace that at times there’s some really good quotes in here, & I found Henry to be a pretty well written character, but quite frankly fuck this book overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Ableism, Islamophobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Racism, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Blood, Classism, Sexism, Suicide, Gun violence, Addiction, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Toxic friendship

lucyford's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

5.0

This book was SO GOOD. I don’t even know how to describe it in a way that truly encapsulates everything good about it. The plot is so well-written, and is really brought to life by the amazing writing style and slight poetic element to it, and all the atmospheres she creates just feel so real. Not to mention the foreshadowing (when you’re reading, you know it’s foreshadowing to something but you don’t know what it’s foreshadowing to, which is just so cool), and the fact that you’re always wondering how the story is possibly going to progress from point A to point B. The characters are all so complicated and interesting, and the themes of the books are very philosophical which makes the book all the more interesting. Overall, 10/10 read, absolutely exceeded my expectations. (ALSO THE ENDING??? CAUGHT ME SO OFF GUARD OMG)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicide, Body horror, Addiction, Alcohol, Mental illness, Grief, Death, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Vomit, Gore, Sexism, Drug abuse, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content

Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Rape, Stalking, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

dhritidipa7's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Drug use, Physical abuse, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Eating disorder, Incest, Islamophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

annaliseg's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, and Incest

hannahsutherland's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

This book was fine. I can see why some people like it, but I'm surprised it's as popular as it is. 

I listened to a few parts as the audio book which is narrated by Donna Tartt which is quite nice. 

There were a few things I disliked. 
-It mainly seems to be vibes, with a few shock moments thrown in. It's a thriller, I guess, so that is fine. But then why is it 600 pages long. The pacing is off, the book often drags. 
-Lack of female charcters. 
-The

twincest

seemed super unecessary and I felt the

domestic violence

was very poorly handled. 
-Something about the way the book treats homosexuality gave me the ick. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Incest, Homophobia, and Sexual harassment

nevaehmaendel's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

I can't stop thinking about it. Read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Suicide, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

justwannareadbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Incest, Murder, and Domestic abuse

gologel's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.75

This was an amazing read. Tartt knows how to capture her readers, make them root for her characters, make them accomplices of her characters, but also reminds us of their dark sides. Overall it was a very well-rounded story and even though I did not know what I expected from the ending, I was satisfied with it.

The only reason why this book does not get 5/5⭐️ is because the pace was a little too slow for my liking, making me wonder why I was reading about all of that in such great depth, especially in Book 2, and because not all of my questions have been answered.

But that's the most spectacular aspect of the book: you're not sure yourself how much you've been played.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Suicide, Gun violence, Addiction, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Sexism

knmo1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Incest, Drug use, Alcohol, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Violence and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

gothmiku's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Murder, Classism, Incest, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Car accident, Grief, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, Vomit, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Outing, and Self harm