Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

233 reviews

marianneiriss's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

Should you read The Goldfinch? Yes, but also no:

If you’ve read and enjoyed other long, slow, and at times frustrating books (for example, Crime and Punishment!), you like to read books with entirely unlikeable characters and unreliable narrators, and you don’t mind forays into odd, illogical, trains of thought and extremely long sentences - yes, definitely read The Goldfinch! 

If you’ve read and enjoyed The Secret History, and you are hoping for something in the same vein of content/themes from The Goldfinch - I probably wouldn’t recommend it to you, because it’s honestly nothing like TSH, and I think you might be disappointed if you go into expecting it to be similar!

Personally, I thought that although it’s not an easy read, it was worth it. I’ve not been able to stop thinking about The Goldfinch since I finished last month. 

I loved the lyrical writing - Donna Tartt has beautiful prose. And she captures this feeling of a kind of resigned despair so well, it pervades the entire book. I actually had to take a bit of a break from reading it at one point just to read something a bit less unhappy (I wouldn’t class this as ‘a sad book’ necessarily, but it is an unhappy book, at times desperately so). I’ve included some content warnings at the end of this review, and I would recommend looking into them before you decide to commit to reading The Goldfinch, as it does deal with heavy subject matter. 

All this being said, I did think that it is a fantastic book overall, and if you’re currently battling through it I would recommend sticking with it, as you’ll be glad by the end that you did. Despite how frustrating it feels at times - I certainly felt like yelling at Theo “please, just don’t do that, just don’t” at multiple points! - it is well worth persevering with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, Abandonment, and Infidelity

eher1305's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Mass/school shootings, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

rae_kjise's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Death, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Drug use, Car accident, Blood, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Gun violence, Murder, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Addiction

marleywrites's review against another edition

Too slow. I couldn’t bring myself to finish it. Like I want to know what happens, but I don’t quite care enough to keep reading. But I’m going to bookmark where I stopped and see if I can finish it at a later date. I’m just tired of looking at it on my bedside table every day being untouched. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Homophobia, Child death, and Islamophobia

Minor: Sexual content

syd4panda's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

took me about seven months to read. somewhat of a comfort book during that time, but nothing i'd pick up again. got attached to the characters and learned to love and hate their flaws. despite the art gallery bombing being an experience that (i'm assuming) no reader has gone through as well as being an art thief, theo himself is certainly relatable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Death of parent, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Vomit

beamingviolet11's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction

kyliebloch's review

challenging dark emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

alibrarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is excellent and interesting, but it is dense. It’s just hard to get through, but so good when you do.

I liked Theo’s story and the way Tartt writes, but it is definitely higher level writing determined to call back to the classics. Of course, this works for the kind of story she’s telling of a boy who becomes an art dealer and everything he gets caught up in. However, from the start, it’s very intimidating; it’s definitely one that makes you think about what’s being said because there are so many words being used to say it and the format for each chapter is broken down into their own sub chapters. It’s twisty and elegant, but absolutely not a light read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Alcohol, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Medical trauma

Minor: Infidelity

malebrina's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, and Alcohol

Moderate: Blood, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Murder, Bullying, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit

elisabethshanahan's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit