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vaguely_pink's review against another edition
- 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
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
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 crimerachel7588's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Self harm, Mental illness, Grief, Death, Bullying, Gun violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, and Addiction
venice_the_vampire's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Drug abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Car accident, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
Minor: Abandonment
devlev7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, and Gun violence
glasshalffull713's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Murder, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Death of parent
azureumbreon's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Child abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Addiction
jg34's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Murder, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Addiction, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment
marianneiriss's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
rae_kjise's review
- 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
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
Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Grief, and Drug use
Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Homophobia, Child death, and Islamophobia
Minor: Sexual content