Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

242 reviews

emilyvelle's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The first ~25% was very slow and I was considering giving up, but then Ms. Donna got my attention & I was hooked and engaged! This was such a fascinating story that I want to write an essay about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Classism, Toxic friendship, Antisemitism, and Bullying

Minor: Misogyny, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Incest

gologel's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

This was an amazing read. Tartt knows how to capture her readers, make them root for her characters, make them accomplices of her characters, but also reminds us of their dark sides. Overall it was a very well-rounded story and even though I did not know what I expected from the ending, I was satisfied with it.

The only reason why this book does not get 5/5⭐️ is because the pace was a little too slow for my liking, making me wonder why I was reading about all of that in such great depth, especially in Book 2, and because not all of my questions have been answered.

But that's the most spectacular aspect of the book: you're not sure yourself how much you've been played.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Suicide, Gun violence, Addiction, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Sexism

gothmiku's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Murder, Classism, Incest, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Car accident, Grief, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, Vomit, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Outing, and Self harm

kimveach's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

3.5

This book is hard to review and equally hard to rate.  I both liked it and was annoyed by it.  It was slowly paced, but the further I got into the book, the more I wanted to finish it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Outing, Bullying, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Self harm, Alcohol, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Medical content, Child death, Grief, Murder, Blood, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, Classism, and Toxic relationship

kshy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Blood, Death, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Classism, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Dysphoria

beckyg1016's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.0

The book description seems, to me, incredibly misleading. "Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor" - you mean the one who barely shows up at all, has minimal lines, and doesn't seem to influence anyone but Henry.  Henry is the driving force of this story and all of its actors. "...discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries." - You mean that one time? While that event is the catalyst for all others, it is not the point of the story - these characters don't "find a new way of thinking and living" - they spend a semester trying to avoid getting caught for a crime they are only somewhat remorseful about and then move on with their lives in much the same way as all of their "humdrum" classmates. 
Additionally, as noted in the Content Warnings section, Bunny is a difficult character to read. I get that you aren't supposed to like him, he is typical for the time, etc. but I was uncomfortable nearly every time he opened his mouth and that, at least, puts you on the side of the other characters. I surely did not miss him once he was gone.
To be fair, Tartt has a lovely writing voice. If she didn't, this would absolutely be my first DNF of the year. The story was captivating for maybe 250/550 pages - the rest was just a push to finish so I could move on to the next book in my TBR pile.
Every book has its reader - and I've seen plenty of people giving this book high ratings - so maybe that reader is you, and you will love it. I hope so. It certainly wasn't for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Alcoholism, Suicide, Homophobia, and Self harm

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Sexism, Classism, Racism, Animal cruelty, Incest, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

jasminn_perez's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.75

I think I would love to reread this book. I just know its gonna take another pass through for anything to really stick. I have so much appreciation for the character writing and just the writing in general. donna tart is the most genius like actually. I at this point in time don't believe I truly grasped a lot of what was going on in this book. but that might be the point ? idk I might come back to add to this review later bc I literally just finished it. I loved how much of an unreliable narrator Richard was. it truly was his story and his side of it and I know he liiiiied. the main hype for this book was the vibes and TRUST they are there. it did invent dark academia. its dark and mysterious and eerie and I felt so uncomfortable throughout so much of it. the way that Richard was kind of always on the outside of the group until he wasn't translated so so well onto the reader. it really felt like I was there with them but only on the level that he was. because even after they killed bunny it still felt like he was on the outside in a way. idk anyway it was good I will def be rereading and maybe ill grasp it better then.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Alcohol, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Mental illness

hazyskyys's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• 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? No

3.5

i feel as though there isn’t a lot to say about this book, but i also feel that i have to put my thoughts somewhere after i’ve finished it.

one of the things i loved the most about this book is the commentary it made about human nature; how people have the tendency to romanticize others and only acknowledge their best traits, even if that’s not who they are. the narration through richard was one of the best ways to display this. he so deeply wanted to fit in, become someone else, become exactly like the members of julian’s class that he forced himself (probably unknowingly) to think of the best parts of them. it makes it almost impossible for the reader to not fall for these characters, as they are painted in an ideal manner that makes us overlook the terrible things they are really doing. 

i think it’s interesting how everyone seems surprised every time someone does something immoral, especially when richard was shocked that henry was throwing him under the bus during the entire investigation and keeping secrets from him. richard perceived a version of henry that was far from his deceitful and cunning manner, and it caused him to think henry was a better person than he was. 

i also liked how the group rationalized the bad decisions they were making, and excusing their murders as if they were almost no big deal. we did occasionally see richard get upset and realize the gravity of what they had done, but nobody else seemed upset about it on the surface. they seem more upset about the stress of the aftermath than the fact that they killed their peer (and a rando), and i think this said a lot about class distinction and morals in general.

all of this being said, i do think overall, the book was a bit of a drag. i find it a bit foolish to put the major plot point of the murder smack in the middle of the story, because after that it pretty much fell off and turned into a mish mosh of basically irrelevant side stories (wow henry needs pain meds oh no.. oh my god they are drinking again)

i think because of this, many of the characters ended up losing development they could have had. henry and bunny were the most complex and well developed characters in the whole book, and the rest served as stereotypes in my opinion. francis was just gay, camilla was a love interest (for like everyone), and charles was a drunk. i feel that this could be because of the way richard perceived them, returning to my original point, but their dialogue didn’t do much for me either, so i feel inclined to say it’s not that.

also there were a lot of unnecessary plot points?? like the n word scene and the twin incest plotline… and when richard had that thought… very confusing..

i’m a sucker for dark academia, so i did enjoy this book and the world it set up, but i think it was a bit of a flop. i would recommend though if you’re willing to read 500+ pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Incest, Murder, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Gun violence

Minor: Rape and Antisemitism

remecide's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest, Sexism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, and Homophobia

it's a lot about bad people doing bad things. you are not supposed to love the characters. it's messy but it's fun to read, however it is 100% a hit or miss

selfdeprikate's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Sexism, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Violence, Incest, Infidelity, Self harm, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Classism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Medical content, Mental illness, Car accident, and Suicide attempt