Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

171 reviews

elenab's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Death and Toxic friendship

fionaparch's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

johndenver's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Vomit, Drug abuse, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Body horror, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Drug use, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Homophobia

dizzzybrook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• 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

4.0

This book was such a chore to get through. I generally favor long books and have no issues with a slow burn, but something about The Goldfinch just failed to ever emotionally draw me in. The story was much more enjoyable for me than that of The Secret History but I'm still just not sold that Tartt's books are for me. I really loved the first 1/4th of the book but after that, I lost motivation and eventually had to switch over to the audiobook to get through the rest. I don't think this is a bad book by any means but it was a relief once it was over, and I'm not sure that's a compliment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abandonment, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, and Vomit

maddie_1999's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Gore, Abandonment, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Vomit, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, and Self harm

Moderate: Homophobia, Islamophobia, Racism, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Stalking, Violence, and Fatphobia

bxnnny's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

i've previously read donna tartt's the secret history, which i overall liked but also felt like it wasn't quite it for me. the goldfinch was an improvement in my opinion and i do think i was more attached to the story and its characters this time. it's a very poignant book about grief and the what if's of life. the butterfly effect, fate, karma, and what could have been versus what is. as someone who has never had to deal with any real grief regarding death, i often struggled to understand theo and the things he did and didn't do. for example, i struggled to understand why he didn't have much of anything that belonged to his mother after her death and

why he never even put up a fight to prevent his father from selling/giving away all of her belongings and the things they shared together while holding on so tightly to the painting that ultimately just caused him more grief and trouble.

but as the book went on, i came to understand that the painting was an allegory for the grief he felt for his mother and that if he lost it or gave it away or sold it or whatever - if he didn't have it anymore, this thing so closely related to the day of her death, to the events that caused her death, to this massive loss and life-altering day, then he would forget her. then he wouldn't have her. if he didn't have that grief to hold onto, he would forget her, and thus lose her entirely, forever. he held onto that painting and held onto that grief as the last way he could hold onto his mother. the last thing tying him to that day and what happened to her. but in the end, the grief and the memories were all still there, regardless of the painting, and regardless of anything else. very well done. i do wish we could have learned more about pippa and what all she was going through/up to and i do there was more about what happened to everyone in the end, but i understand why it was left to be more unknown and ambiguous. also good god, i wish donna tartt would make shorter chapters! but i'm glad she at least introduced the roman numerals within the chapters to break it up a little bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Drug use, and Drug abuse

some very minor internalized homophobia.

lgwhite's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Violence

dillydallyallie'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Beautifully written but very slow. I enjoyed the prose and it contained very beautiful snippets of sentences that I found myself re-reading to appreciate. It is, however, quite lengthy and at times difficult to get through. As an infrequent reader I may not have finished it if it were not for summer reading in high school. That said, I am glad I read it. And to be fair, it’s not an easy task to live up to Tartt’s The Secret History.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Addiction, Mental illness, Violence, Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Abandonment

content warnings may be incomplete or slightly incorrect!! i read it a while ago so it’s just from what i can remember! also i don’t remember the severity so i added them all to moderate

moz_art's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

Gorgeous prose, with some banger twists, but overall slow and bulky for my liking. I enjoyed the beginning, the middle was a whole lot of nothing, the ending was all over the place and confusing. Too many plotlines but doesn’t fully focus on any of them for long enough for me to care. Finishing the book felt like a relief. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Cursing, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism and Addiction

zmeeks04's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Blood and Violence

Minor: Animal death