Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

141 reviews

agustinasarmiento's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia and Homophobia

yzer2468's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Alcohol, Drug use, Blood, Addiction, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Death, Classism, Drug abuse, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Grief, Incest, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Mental illness, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexism

robin_c's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Sexism, Violence, Suicide, and Self harm

elena2000rr's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

The characters are insufferable and Richard is nothing more than a bystander in all of this with a serious problem of absence of personality, a bunch of pretentious rich kids doing drugs and killing people featurin an idiot who idolizes them . Again I hated everyone but I think that's the point of the book,

I only felt bad for Camilla and maybe Francis at the end

. The book is well written, I'll give it that. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Murder, Violence, Incest, and Drug abuse

telemesmerism's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

Just not really worth reading. an awfully long book to read about characters who suck and arent interesting and a very mediocre plot

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Animal death, Antisemitism, Medical content, Incest, Racism, Car accident, and Sexism

briochebun's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

4 out of 5 ☆’s.

“Love doesn’t conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.”

ੈ✩‧₊˚

The Secret History has been on my TBR for quite some time and I am so glad that I finally put some time aside to read it.

While I cannot say that my life was forever altered by this novel (though my feelings on that may change with time) I feel as though giving it anything less than 4 starts would be doing it an immense disservice. Readers of TSH will be able to see the impact that the novel has had on the Dark Academia genre and I think that in and of itself is an incredible feat that speaks to Tartt’s skill.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Outing, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, Medical content, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent

Minor: Kidnapping

likeaspurgeon's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

2.5

The casual racism and homophobia from the early 90s doesn’t hold up in 2023. All in all, it seemed a lot of build up for an anti-climactic ending. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, and Homophobia

feralbookwife's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

I have never craved a cigarette so much. A visceral, pretentious read filled with coming of age angst, greed, ego, and a dash of nihilism. Be sure to be in the mood to enter this world before starting it all the characters will feel insufferable.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Animal death, Drug use, Ableism, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Incest, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, and Racism

haleylooloo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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

3.75

What a strange book. Very interesting and very flawed characters all around. Sort of in that weird place where I can’t decide if I enjoyed it or hated it, but I don’t think I’m as enamored as the rest of the world seems to be. Took a long time to get going, though the last couple hundred pages did speed up & get more interesting. The ending, before the epilogue, I think made the read worth it but the beginning did drag for a while. Very well written, just Richard as a narrator was frustrating, as we’d be like 3 layers of anecdote deep.

The whole plot line with Charles and Camilla was wild, so well written because when it was revealed, I was disgusted, but also not super surprised, which was the same way Richard felt when he said that he didn’t want to admit it but he’d suspected it all along. Also the entire part with the letter was so well done.

Not my favorite Donna Tartt work, but not a bad one either. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Murder, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Vomit

Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Blood, and Panic attacks/disorders

cell0girl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.75

The Secret History includes some of the most sublime and sinister descriptions I have ever read. We get to witness how each character deceives us due to their two sided personalities that is gradually revealed in the text; as soon as you begin to become fond of someone, it’s as if their whole personality was a facade to their true identity. My main complaint for this book is that it’s too long for the story it follows and could have easily been condensed into half its size; the first 300 pages was purely just context, some of which isn’t used or referred to later on in the text.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Racism, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Incest, Homophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia and Religious bigotry

Minor: Misogyny and Rape