Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

129 reviews

haileyeh's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

1.75

Theo is the most unlikeable protagonist I have ever read about.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Death, Alcohol, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Child abuse

Minor: Car accident and Vomit

ollie_the_enby's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This was an incredibly emotional and reflective book, following Theo through his life after the sudden death of his mother. 

My only problem with this book is that it was so long (I have chronic fear of thick books syndrome), but I fear that not very much could've been taken out without impacting the introspective feeling of the story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Murder

dillydallyallie's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.25

Beautifully written but very slow. I enjoyed the prose and it contained very beautiful snippets of sentences that I found myself re-reading to appreciate. It is, however, quite lengthy and at times difficult to get through. As an infrequent reader I may not have finished it if it were not for summer reading in high school. That said, I am glad I read it. And to be fair, it’s not an easy task to live up to Tartt’s The Secret History.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Addiction, Mental illness, Violence, Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Abandonment

content warnings may be incomplete or slightly incorrect!! i read it a while ago so it’s just from what i can remember! also i don’t remember the severity so i added them all to moderate

myclutteredbookshelf's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was first introduced to Donna Tartt in my second year of university, when I discovered how popular she was in the online bookish community. People would tell me how complex her characters were, how thought-provoking her prose was, and I was immediately intrigued but too intimidated by the length of her novels to rush into reading them. I finally worked up the courage in January 2022 to read her debut novel, The Secret History, which follows a group of classics students who get caught in a web of secrets and murder. After so many years of hearing the internet butter up Tartt's writing, to my disappointment, I ended up hating the novel. The chapters were excruciating long with no page breaks, half of the main characters felt underdeveloped, and the plot contained several cliches you would expect from a first time author trying to make their debut as edgy as possible (e.g., two of the classics students are a brother and sister twin duo; three guesses as to what Tartt decided their big secret would be).

A part of me hoped this was just due to Tartt being a less experienced writer at the time of the book's release. So, I decided to give her a second chance and read her third published novel, The Goldfinch. And my god, were the improvements noticeable.

Read the full review at My Cluttered Bookshelf. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racial slurs, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

classicalhell's review

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-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: Death of parent, Addiction, Abandonment, Drug abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Murder, Violence, and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit and Adult/minor relationship

finn_lover's review

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

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

5.0

I started reading this book because of the movie, I absolutely fell in love with the movie and I also did with the book, I've cried to the book many times but it's so good, Boris is my favorite character out of them all.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Self harm, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Grief, and Drug use

definitely lots of drug usage. and abuse and suicidal thoughts and one suicide attempt.

elkila's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide attempt

cinnaminskies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Trafficking

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.0

I think this one just wasn’t for me. Tartt is undeniably an incredibly gifted writer. Her characters leap off the page. The Goldfinch reads like a memoir and I often found myself wondering how it’s possible that someone could pull such real characters out of their head. The audiobook narrator is also masterful in his performance of each one. But part of why I continued to ask myself this was because their lives, and consequently this book, are just so oppressively bleak. Like, I’m a proud Sad Girl™, but this felt like too much sometimes. 

There were also numerous times where I felt like we were gearing up for an ending only to check the audiobook and realize that somehow I still had 13 hours left. As I got to the end, I started to have my usual audiobook thoughts of “maybe I’d like this more if I read with my eyes,” especially with the discussions about the importance of art to the human experience. But I’m not sure I would’ve had the endurance for this book in print. And when it does finally end, it feels very

Boris

ex machina and entirely too quick and easy. I don’t know, man. Maybe all the new adult fantasy I’ve been reading lately is finally rotting my brain. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Addiction, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Murder, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Vomit, and Sexual violence

Terrorism, bombing, organized crime

therealsouls's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

2.5 stars

"God has tortured Theo plenty. If suffering makes noble, then he is a prince." - Boris, The Goldfinch

I have to be honest: this book was just a pile of BS.

Look, I respect Donna Tartt's decision of taking 10 years to write a novel, but not if NOTHING happens in it! And especially if it takes 800 pages!

The story goes like this: a little bastard called Theodore Finch loses his mother and steals a painting as an added cliché. There are a few other events too, but those are the main ones. Honestly, Donna, just stop gallivating around the place if you're not keeping the reader entertained.

I loved Donna Tartt's writing style, but her execution just sucks. She'd probably grow twice in popularity if she halved her novels and quickened up the pace. The novel dragged on, I am not joking!

Honestly, a big no from me if you hate slow-paced novels where nothing happens. My attention span was screaming at me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse