Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

300 reviews

s000ul3's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Sexism, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Classism, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Incest, Sexual violence, Blood, Violence, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Gun violence, and Drug use

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

doormatt's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

To start off with telling you they murder the guy and then to still have a very tense twist end? Ooof highly recommend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, and Blood

Moderate: Antisemitism, Grief, and Homophobia

Minor: Infidelity

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

rachelnoel's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Animal death, Grief, Death, Suicide, Murder, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Self harm, Addiction, Blood, and Drug use

Minor: Incest, Gore, and Car accident

discountpersephone's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Grief, Incest, Alcoholism, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

emilyvelle's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.25

The first ~25% was very slow and I was considering giving up, but then Ms. Donna got my attention & I was hooked and engaged! This was such a fascinating story that I want to write an essay about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Classism, Toxic friendship, Antisemitism, and Bullying

Minor: Misogyny, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Incest

rakkaussipsi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Drug abuse, Murder, Incest, Death, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Misogyny

Minor: Antisemitism

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

sarasreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

From the very beginning of this book it's easy to see why it's the dark academia that launched 1,000 books. It's absolutely quintessential. Even when not much is happening, the prose and the atmosphere are just a 10/10. The characters aren't that great, and the plot can be slow, but I rarely found myself bored, and it's not a short novel. 

The execution of this book takes it from a 3 star read to a solid 4 for me. It could have been boring and kind of insufferable, but it just had a knack of drawing me deeper and deeper in. 

I read If We Were Villains last year, and I think because I read it first, because it deals with Shakespeare, and because I felt a more emotional connection to some of the characters, it wins out for me over this one. To me, The Secret History walked so If We Were Villains could run. 

Definitely recommend it for any dark academia fans, but also read the content warnings. There are so, so many.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Alcoholism, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, Antisemitism, Physical abuse, Incest, and Murder