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avrilamber's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The books plot is actually very minimal, so it’s a wonder how it manages to span 600 odd pages. But I adore Donna Tartt’s prose, I think it’s gorgeous. Some of the most mundane and ordinary plot points are written so descriptively, it really helped carry me through the book without me wanting to put it down.
I think a lot of the references to the classics were lost on me, but I don’t think I missed out on anything by not knowing the references either.
A great piece of modern literature, that really gives off the dark academia vibes.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Incest and Rape
plathandthebelljar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Murder
Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Antisemitism, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Drug abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
taylorc19's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Now, for what I didn't like so much:
- This book dragged. It took me two months to finish it, and I'm someone who usually can finish a book within a few days of opening it. I couldn't push myself to finish more than a chapter at a time. I found my eyelids growing heavy and my yawns becoming more frequent as I tried to slog my way through the dense yet uninteresting plot. This story could have been written in 300 pages. I gained absolutely nothing from the monotonous chapters of the character who died's funeral or from the search party for them. I found myself skimming through the last 40% of this book, and I wouldn't say I missed much.
- Maybe I'm not made for character-heavy, low-plot books. But that brings me to my next grievance: how can you write a character-driven book and make every single character utterly vile? The only character who I found myself somewhat sympathizing with by the end was Judy, the neighbor of Richard who gossiped too much and frequently did drugs such as cocaine and meth. Could we really not give any more positive personality traits to the core six students or Julian? Camila and Charles (the twins) appear to be kind and relatively receptive towards Richard when he first joins the group, however, they spiral into a violent alcoholic (Charles) and a manipulative liar (Camila). Bunny goes from jovial and bubbly to a person who blackmails their friends and is so insecure he is driven to a mental breakdown. And, my God, don't get me started on Richard. He is possibly the most uninteresting person I have ever had the displeasure of reading about. He seems to live such a pitiful existence where all he wants is acceptance from others. With character-driven books, I feel like I have to actually care about the characters. I wish nothing but the worst for basically every single person in this book. These characters were snobby, elitist, reprehensible, borderline sociopathic criminals yet I'm still supposed to believe Richard's favorable descriptions of them?
- Why are we adding random bouts of incest into this book???? I don't understand what that added to any of the characters nor why it was important to the plot??? It felt included merely for the shock factor.
- I think this book would have benefited from switching narrators during the second half. After the murder (and I use that term rather loosely) occurs, Richard should not have been the narrator. He doesn't know what's going on at all, he isn't involved in any of the police proceedings, and he spends the last 300 pages of the book rambling in a drunken stupor about-wait for it-NOTHING! I wish we had switched narrators to Henry or even Charles. People who were actually being questioned and were actually plotting on how to get away with the murder. Henry is framed to be this psychopathic mastermind. However, we don't actually get any explanation of his thoughts after the murder, who he planned to pin it on, or how he explained virtually anything to the police. I understand it's not a police-proceedings book, but I mean, come on, give us some explanation as to how they got away with this instead of just throwaway comments at the end by a paranoid Charles. Giving us Henry's point of view would have also explained the ending more since that came out of nowhere.
- Why did we throw in that line about Richard having the urge to rape Camila????????????? And why did we never touch on that again???????????
This book was dense, boring, and had no real point. Having superfluous, flowery language and rambling about Greek studies does not make for a good book! I almost DNF'd it hundreds of times while reading, but I needed to be able to say I gave it a fair shot. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you enjoy reading about miserable creatures who think they're God's gift to the world. Someone please tell me what I'm missing that is so magical and life-changing about this book.
Good riddance, Hampden. I won't miss you.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Antisemitism, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
katenaum's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide
Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Suicide attempt, and Classism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Self harm, and Vomit
the_one_krissy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Drug abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
dkamada's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
dillydallyallie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
alenaecook'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
naomi_salters's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
saryy's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Suicide attempt