Reviews tagging 'Outing'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

36 reviews

_jacket_oil_'s review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.25

Maybe I was just sold this book wrong but I thought it was going to be a critique of academia and how highly some people feel themselves to be above others. Which in some respects maybe I can see but also at the end of the day they are rich kids who get away with whatever they want. Also they way social topics are discussed I don’t think is done very well nor some of them even needing to be in book. You could talk out a lot of that from the book and nothing in the story would have to change. Overall I just don’t know if the book did a good enough job critiquing the things that I have read people say it does a good job at. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Murder, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Classism, Incest, and Physical abuse

Minor: Outing, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

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

kimveach's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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

3.5

This book is hard to review and equally hard to rate.  I both liked it and was annoyed by it.  It was slowly paced, but the further I got into the book, the more I wanted to finish it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Outing, Bullying, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Self harm, Alcohol, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Medical content, Child death, Grief, Murder, Blood, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, Classism, and Toxic relationship

sugar_fox's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book, despite taking me a long time to finish reading is a must-read for anyone and everyone. Never in this book was there a moment where I thought it was dull. Even the everyday occurrences in this school was made intriguing beyond belief, hell, I’d go as to say I enjoyed every moment of this book. Never did I hate it, something rare for me. The only thing, if you hate being made to feel stupid, don’t read this book. The amount of literary references, and the many others I probably missed was crazy.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Violence, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Incest, Death, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Car accident, and Outing

colittle's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

Richard failing to remember certain key details near the end of the story when he’s recalled everything else in vivid detail seems more like a cop-out than an intentional literary decision. Other than that, 5 stars. The seminal dark academia novel and an often satirical examination of class, elitism, and aestheticism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Classism, Gaslighting, Murder, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body shaming, Homophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Racial slurs, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Outing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Incest

salem0's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

read by and reviewed: 10.02.23
this review may be a bit disjointed, i have so much to say.

really good, i think. i had to look into the book's meaning a bit after i finished it. the story, as i understand, plays out like a greek tragedy- with all the titular characters in the end stuck in the past, with various degrees of badly-dealt-with trauma. 

finding out slowly how julian played a hand in the whole fiasco, and the whole group- even henry- were manipulated by this illusion of divinity is pretty interesting. henry's death feels very much like a tragic greek hero's sacrifice, and it really drives home how much of a myth he and the gang were playing into throughout the book- obsessed with ancient greece, trying to seem more elite than they actually were (often to a pretentious extent), trying to be like greek characters to a point where they attempt a bacchanal- not to mention how they become more and more disconnected from reality- till it all crashes down. 

richard, the unreliable narrator telling the story of his 'secret history', is the most sympathetic fellow of the group i found, though there is some irritation warranted for his pretentiousness. his idolization of the professor and his friends, and how he slowly comes to realize he may have been wrong about them all this time, was one of the best parts of the story. watching all the characters lose their shit after bunny's death is quite fascinating, and just a bit saddening, though when you remember the terrible things they've done it feels like some dramatic comeuppance. you still end up feeling a little sad for how it's all turned out for them. i found myself hoping that richard, and maybe francis, get better, that he moves on one day from all that's occurred. it's a very tragic, tragic ending, executed perfectly. 

last up, in terms of technical stuff- the writing's great, and there are so many beautiful quotes in this book. it really could've been cut down tho, the first half just has so many unnecessary parts. nearly all of the part where richard's fumbling around during the break could have been removed. it would've been nice to see more of camilla too. that's all. overall, good shit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Drug use, Addiction, Homophobia, and Suicide

Minor: Antisemitism, Incest, Sexual content, Outing, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

felofhe's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Incest, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

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.

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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

ro_lux's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Alcoholism, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Incest, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Outing and Medical content

star_oats's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

I keep thinking about this book even after almost a month since I’ve read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Outing, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia