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sundayray's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Chronic illness and Incest
arielleslibrarycard's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is about a group of young, bright academics (misfits) who attempt to transcend limitations & boundaries set by society (particularly high society) and culture in terms of how they are supposed to think and act; but in their pursuit of living as freely as possible, they find themselves blurring morality and crossing a point of no return.
The blueprint of dark academia, indeed — the tone is eerie and gets more and more sinister as the story goes on, with a lot of literary and philosophical references throughout. Albeit pretentious and snobbish in its writing, but this added to its brilliance as it is told from the first person POV of Richard, who IS a pretentious young man desperately longing to belong to this group of rich kids; but often still finds himself discontented.
A central theme in this book is looking at others / life with a rose-colored lens, where we only accept what is good and beautiful but disregard those that don’t serve us no matter how truthful it is. Funnily, even I found myself initially ignoring how terrible the characters were to the core as I was truly captured by the writing style — how they were described, their “solid friendship”, their lifestyle, and even their intelligence. I found myself thinking “maybe they’re not as bad as they seem to be”, but as the story unravels, the more we see Richard’s rose-colored lenses are fading, and the reality of how despicable and self-absorbed all these characters truly are. There is no friendship, there is no loyalty, there is no love. Self-preservation at its finest, and that hits so hard.
It was a slow start and the chapters were very long. This is definitely a read that requires concentration and brain power. I struggled with keeping up at first, but when I hit 60% onwards, I could not put the book down. Plus points to the author for connecting all the philosophical concepts at the beginning to the events that unfolded in the end. I also couldn’t 100% predict the ending, which kept me on the edge of my seat, as well.
There is so much more to say about this book and its characters — definitely a great read for class or book club discussions.
The blueprint of dark academia, indeed — the tone is eerie and gets more and more sinister as the story goes on, with a lot of literary and philosophical references throughout. Albeit pretentious and snobbish in its writing, but this added to its brilliance as it is told from the first person POV of Richard, who IS a pretentious young man desperately longing to belong to this group of rich kids; but often still finds himself discontented.
A central theme in this book is looking at others / life with a rose-colored lens, where we only accept what is good and beautiful but disregard those that don’t serve us no matter how truthful it is. Funnily, even I found myself initially ignoring how terrible the characters were to the core as I was truly captured by the writing style — how they were described, their “solid friendship”, their lifestyle, and even their intelligence. I found myself thinking “maybe they’re not as bad as they seem to be”, but as the story unravels, the more we see Richard’s rose-colored lenses are fading, and the reality of how despicable and self-absorbed all these characters truly are. There is no friendship, there is no loyalty, there is no love. Self-preservation at its finest, and that hits so hard.
It was a slow start and the chapters were very long. This is definitely a read that requires concentration and brain power. I struggled with keeping up at first, but when I hit 60% onwards, I could not put the book down. Plus points to the author for connecting all the philosophical concepts at the beginning to the events that unfolded in the end. I also couldn’t 100% predict the ending, which kept me on the edge of my seat, as well.
There is so much more to say about this book and its characters — definitely a great read for class or book club discussions.
elviolet's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Incest
snoozling's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
tbearlupin's review against another edition
I don't hate slow books, but this starts off pretty exciting and at a certain point starts DRAGGING, which threw me out of the story.
holliewong's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
jordanh's review against another edition
4.5
This might as well be the first time I've read this book, because the first time I read this I was just about 19, finishing up my very first semester of university, and still relying on tumblr to tell me what books had gay characters in them and exclusively buying books based on that. Now, I did like it when I first read it, but for all the wrong reasons, or, more accurately, reason, because there was a single gay kiss and one character who was gay and one character who seemed like he could have been gay.
Now I like it for all the right reasons, being the way the atmosphere is so well constructed that you truly feel like you are in the story as you are reading it, and as soon as one or two yellowish leaves are spotted on the ground the urge to read this book is unavoidable. Also the incredible writing, the layers that you keep peeling back the more you think about it, and the characters who are all so terrible but so perfect, not as people but as characters. Also the fact that I do still think Richard isn't straight but not because I want him to be, but because he so clearly just isn't and I understand how to read that now.
I will say there's about 100+ pages after Bunny's death (which isn't a spoiler because the first line of the book tells you he's dead) where it just drags a little. The section dedicated to the funeral is far too long and boring and I just wanted it to end.
I am also a little too stupid to fully understand a lot of this. Smarter than I was at 18/19, but not quite as smart as I need to be to fully comprehend all of this book. But yeah. I'm glad I reread it. 18 year old me did not have taste
Now I like it for all the right reasons, being the way the atmosphere is so well constructed that you truly feel like you are in the story as you are reading it, and as soon as one or two yellowish leaves are spotted on the ground the urge to read this book is unavoidable. Also the incredible writing, the layers that you keep peeling back the more you think about it, and the characters who are all so terrible but so perfect, not as people but as characters. Also the fact that I do still think Richard isn't straight but not because I want him to be, but because he so clearly just isn't and I understand how to read that now.
I will say there's about 100+ pages after Bunny's death (which isn't a spoiler because the first line of the book tells you he's dead) where it just drags a little. The section dedicated to the funeral is far too long and boring and I just wanted it to end.
I am also a little too stupid to fully understand a lot of this. Smarter than I was at 18/19, but not quite as smart as I need to be to fully comprehend all of this book. But yeah. I'm glad I reread it. 18 year old me did not have taste
thechaliceofaries's review against another edition
5.0
Some things are too terrible to grasp at once. Other things - naked, sputtering, indelible in their horror - are too terrible to really grasp ever at all. It is only later, in solitude, in memory, that the realization dawns: when the ashes are cold; when the mourners have departed; when one looks around and finds oneself - quite to one's surprise - in an entirely different world.
I loved this! Such loving, beautiful language, such an absorbing and well-paced storyline, such fascinating and flawed characters! Every scene is described with cinematic elegance, and every character enriched in overlapping, mirroring shades of grey; such that no one can be considered to be fully good nor truly evil. The protagonist Richard is an aesthete with a penchant for romanticising the world around him, something that lent the narration of the story a gorgeously dreamlike quality throughout. The whole of this novel was so cleverly done.
It is difficult, in retrospect, to explain exactly what the story is about. “A group of extraordinary college kids get wrapped up in murder”, while capturing the basic essence of it, is nowhere near capable of doing justice to every aspect of this that I enjoyed. It is an ode to youth; a love letter to beauty; a tragedy, a comedy, and a thrilling literary masterpiece all at once.
I loved this! Such loving, beautiful language, such an absorbing and well-paced storyline, such fascinating and flawed characters! Every scene is described with cinematic elegance, and every character enriched in overlapping, mirroring shades of grey; such that no one can be considered to be fully good nor truly evil. The protagonist Richard is an aesthete with a penchant for romanticising the world around him, something that lent the narration of the story a gorgeously dreamlike quality throughout. The whole of this novel was so cleverly done.
It is difficult, in retrospect, to explain exactly what the story is about. “A group of extraordinary college kids get wrapped up in murder”, while capturing the basic essence of it, is nowhere near capable of doing justice to every aspect of this that I enjoyed. It is an ode to youth; a love letter to beauty; a tragedy, a comedy, and a thrilling literary masterpiece all at once.
aliceinchains's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.75
homodyne_reads's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Read for book club and was shocked at the way it drew me in. It's not my typical genre, setting, or loveable characters. I think it was something about the writing style that just clicked for me, and made mundane details seem interesting. I honestly felt like I could have just kept reading it forever, following Richard through life. Even though, when you take a step back he really wasn't a great person. It did both start and end on a bit of a cheesy note in terms of writing style -- I get very antsy when someone writes "my name is ___ and I have blonde hair" as a start to a story. But even so I was hooked within a few pages.
I'm sure there were many more allusions than I actually caught, even so it was fun to play along in their little game of superiority through literature. I think that was part of what drew me into it.
Will probably be checking out other books by Donn Tartt.
I'm sure there were many more allusions than I actually caught, even so it was fun to play along in their little game of superiority through literature. I think that was part of what drew me into it.
Will probably be checking out other books by Donn Tartt.