Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

127 reviews

akvolcano's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

If you’d like to get completely immersed into a characters life, read this book. I can not wait to discuss this book in-depth with someone!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

mawn323's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

lcyarnall1's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Terrorist attack/bombing content

franzis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, and Gun violence

Minor: Pedophilia

thecourtofreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

finally finished this behemoth of a book. like, this took me way too long to finish. and i adore Donna Tartt. the secret history defined an era of my life for me. but the goldfinch. as much as i liked it, this book dragged on for WAY too long. like there were times where stuff could just be described simply and easily instead of flowery and over the top.

i liked the premise of this book, but the blurb made it seem more interesting than it actually was. it made it seem like Theo stole the painting, and then got pulled into an underworld where he then stole more paintings and ran from the cops. what this really was about was a traumatised boy, who never really found anyone who fully cared from him, did drugs, did alcohol, who clung to a painting that he associated with his recently deceased mother. Theo was exhausting to read about after a while, which is why it took me so long to finish because it was just his internal monologue and his thoughts. the paragraphs were so CHUNKY at times as well it kind of gave me a headache to read. it could've done with a lot being cut out and chopped down, but this is not me saying Donna Tartt is a bad author. she is phenomenal and continues to be phenomenal. i think i much preferred the secret history more, and that will always be my favourite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood and Murder

content warning for terrorist attack.

sadaf's review

dark reflective sad medium-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

4.75

In London, desperate for new “study abroad” friends, I made a coffee date with a Russian girl who was in one of my linguistics classes. She always had beautiful manicures, one time a Mondrian (another Dutchman), which had set us off on the topic of art history, and prompted us to pursue a friendship after.
The date was torturous, however: a never-ending debate, including a point at which she insisted that English girls were too soft, Russian women understood that catcalls were simply compliments. She told me about various horrible tales of her family, what they suffered and how they were happier for it, unlike the traumatized youth of today. It was an unpleasant ordeal that went on for two hours. At the end of it she smiled and hugged me excitedly, saying it was the most fun she’d had talking to someone in ages, that we must do it again. Thankfully, we didn’t. I remain flummoxed, though Boris was something like a cipher. 
Near the end, I feel the writing got muddled and began executing my least favorite method of “generating Meaningfulness”, which was lists, lists, lists. Enough. I get it. Life is a confusing torrent of unconnected moments… or something. I preferred her crystal clear observations with a deftly placed low-frequency lexical item. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Murder

noahh's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse and Murder

Minor: Death of parent

tuesdaydg's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

2.0

There is no doubt that The Goldfinch is a thoroughly well-crafted novel. Is it incredibly long? Yes. Is it incredibly slow? Yes. Is the protagonist/narrator insufferable and infuriating? Yes. Yet, I can’t really seem to fault the novel for these elements. There is nothing wrong with a long, slow book with morally questionable characters. What I can fault it for, though, is my own personal experience spending time with the story and existing in the protagonist’s head. So, did I enjoy this novel? No, not really. I attribute this to an amalgamation of factors, from my own personal tastes to false expectations to the feelings Theo’s narrative elicited from me as I read (or listened, rather). I think I expected the “stolen artwork” theme to contribute a sense of adventure or even a fun thrill that would linger on each page. Instead, this theme creates a constant sense of dread and overwhelming stress which exudes from the pages. This, in combination with Theo’s

severe addiction to drugs and alcohol

, made my reading experience quite unpleasant. I have to commend the author for her ability to bring out such emotion, but I felt the the constant weight of this combination of elements seemed to become exhausting, so that the trudge through felt daunting rather than exciting.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Car accident

lindsaylhunter's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

First half was on the right track to being better than the Secret History, but I was willing the book to be over by chapter nine. The author has a beautiful writing style but, in terms of the length of her novels, has no idea that less is nearly always more.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Gun violence and Murder

emmawoodhouse's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Trafficking, and Car accident

the dog stops getting neglected early on and lives a long, happy life