Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

39 reviews

holliesatchell's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

samdalefox's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

2.0

One of my guilty pleasures is reading about the monstrous activities of wealthy characters. As such, I adored Tartt's 'The Secret History'. Unfortuantely, I cannot say the same for 'The Goldfinch'. I was expecting dark academia, history, priviledge of art. Instead I got a bore. The book is long, and it feels long. The excruciating detail does not add anything substantial to the story and borders on hypergraphia with inconsequential tangents galore. At many points, it just plain bored me.

I was most interested in the art world, art theft, and dodgy dealings underworld of antiques, and yet the book frustratingly spends little time there. All glossy descriptions and no substance of narrative. Why it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction I don't know. The book attempts at some grandiose reflection of life, juxtaposing beauty and purpose and the transcendent universiality of experience through time (through the painting and Hobie), against chance or a higher 'pattern' (through gambling, drugs, and Boris). The last 3 chapters or so are just incoherent rambling of Theo trying to justify his life through these reflections. I am not convinced that Tartt successfully justifies/condones his choices or criticises them. A series of bad events happen to an unsympathetic character, maybe if the story was cut down it would have held my interest. It started strong with an interesting premise, then meandered its way through Theo's chaotic life, never truly addressing the consequences to himself or others. Altogether, very disappointing. The famous painting itself however, is exquisite.

Bits that did resonate with me:

• I identified with being in a family that's not your own/familiar (The Barbours, class divides), and the description of Theo's Dad/Xandra (in relation to my own Dad)
• Walden - "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation". Examining city life vs country life e.g. car dependency
• Boris, anti-capitalist
• Boris - "None of us ever find enough kindness in this world do we" 
• The Goldfinch painting itself, in particular the bird's torturous chain. The description on pg 342 "fluttering briefly, forced always to land in the same hopeless place."
  
  
  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Murder, Abandonment, and Blood

flysick's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Grief

queerjay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

the big fuss about this book is justified - it‘s magnificent. BUT i agree with the people saying Donna Tartt is a writer, not a storyteller; the middle part was heavy to chew through.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

maac's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

honestly took me so long and did in fact drive me into a reading slump but it was a really good and interesting book i think donna tartts novels are always quite dense and you have to pay attention a lot to grasp what’s going on and i  haven’t been able to even be present irl so ……. but i did enjoy this a lot!! also the ending was probably one of the most beautifully written things i’ve read in a while :,) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder

emmakvc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, and Alcohol

badmom's review

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

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Violence, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Addiction, Car accident, Child abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment, Classism, Gun violence, and Bullying

laurataylor's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Violence

jlovesromance's review

dark emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Blood, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, and Gun violence

mollymfay's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I absolutely adored this book. While it may be a little bit longer, I definitely found it loveable and worth it because it was so interesting to see Theo the main character grow up and become what he will be: for better or worse. The writing style of this book is also so like Charles Dickens with a modern twist it would be hard to say no. The imagery is something greater than I would ever wish to create for myself and Boris was definitely my favorite character who made this book that more amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, and Sexual violence