Reviews with content warning for Murder - Tajemna historia

this was lent to me by a friend as its her favourite book of all time (no pressure!) and despite a very slow start, it did not disappoint. tense and full of stressful twists, combined with a group of thoroughly unlikeable characters whose approval i wanted almost as badly as the main character richard did! lots of very sophisticated classical references which i’m sure would’ve enriched my experience, but the text is just as intriguing and readable without needing to research the deep meaning of each one. so different from my usual style but thoroughly enjoyable!

Content Warnings

savbarker's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

amandag's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-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

3.75

Content Warnings

jenpurlteach's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

Content Warnings

eeclayton's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This book was brutal, and it will definitely stay with me.
For the first 150-200 pages, I felt it went too slowly, but then I could hardly put the book down. I thought it was kind of underwhelming at the supposedly most cathartic parts, but then I also found myself thinking about said parts over and over again.
It would be great to reread it so I can better appreciate all the little details now that I know the full story, but it's just too depressing. Maybe some time in the future.

Content Warnings

cryptofauna's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.0

um? idk how to feel.
a bit overly literary and pretentious but i kind of feel like that was the point. meandering and dense as hell but also somehow very interesting and captivating. slow for a while at the beginning, and then alternates between very tense and thrilling and then back to slow for a while and then back.
the characters were interesting and i was definitely drawn into the world for most of it but it was also just. really long?
idk i feel like i struggle with more pretentious works because i feel like they don’t keep my attention as well, but i did read 90% of this in one day which is why i’m so conflicted. it clearly held my attention, and at some points i was excited to keep reading for sure but for a majority of it i was kind of continuing out of vague interest and also maybe because of sunk cost
some weird choices like

THE INCEST???? also felt like henry killing himself felt kind of random and out of the blue?? again may be intentional for it to feel weird i just don’t love it as the ending but idk what i would have preferred

it was good i guess but generally not for me is what i’m taking from this. i felt like i didn’t fully get it (??) and while i really liked some parts of it i came out feeling kind of ambivalent about spending like 6 hours on this book.

Content Warnings

charmarie's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

More...