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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

555 reviews

adventurous mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The main character, Richard, goes away to college in Vermont. He wants to study Greek but isn’t allowed to at first because the Greek professor Julian Morrow only takes on a few pupils at a time. After proving his worth he joins the classes. The other students are Henry, Edmund (Bunny), Francis, Charles, and Camilla. The other students put it in their mind to invoke Dionysus, one of the wildest gods in any pantheons.
They leave Bunny and Richard out of this and the other students end up killing a man. Bunny holds this over their heads until they end up killing Bunny because they were afraid he wouldn’t keep his mouth shut. The first half up the book was leading up to them killing Bunny and the second half was them trying to get away with the crime and the aftermah. Charles becomes and alcoholic. Harry and Camilla become romantically involved. Charles threatens Harry with a gun and ends up shooting Richard (who survives) and Harry shoots himself but survives for a few days in the hospital. In the end they all go their separate ways but continue to suffer from their actions in the past. Hints are given that Harry could possibly be alive or it is just their brain playing tricks on them.


I dislike that the chapters were so long and it took forever to get it going. I think that the book could’ve been way shorter. Even though I admire the authors writing and comprehension of Greek it was very intense to read.

Quotes
Beauty is terror. whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. pg 42

 I suppose there is a certain crucial interval in everyone’s life when character is fixed forever. pg 84

It had the quality of a memory; there it was, before my eyes, and yet too beautiful to believe. pg 102

Love doesn’t conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool. pg223


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

please! read! the! trigger! warnings! before! starting! the! book! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark funny 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

I was enamored with this book, but for the life of me I could not tell you why. Perhaps just the anticipation of what was to come forced me to keep reading. The writing style was amazing as well.
The ending left me a bit disappointed, hence a 4/5.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional funny tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

All I can say after reading this was what the fuck
All the characters were pretentious assholes but that’s what makes the book so good 
They all did drugs sometimes in the Burger King parking lot, and honestly just about anything could and did happen in this book
The ending was very AHHH and I was speechless even tho I kind of predicted it 
It was very much a fun book and it didn’t take that long to read for me because It was so good and something was always happening 
I think how good this book is can be subjective to whoever is reading the book tho 
Anyways it was a really good book and I liked it Lot 
Henry is the loml <3 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

No wonder it's such a beloved story, I couldn't stop listening even for a moment. I want to own a copy of this book and read it again. How vivid and atmospheric, it made me want to learn ancient Greek and go to college to study it. Absolutely adored the horrible protagonists, such flawed characters and yet it was so easy for me to love them. I'm so glad I read this book.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings