Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

555 reviews

nyree's review against another edition

5.0

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Classism

flunkingout's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest

Minor: Rape

polpolpolulu's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I am absolutely in love with this The Secret History. Although the plot isn't seat gripping its evident that’s not the point of the story. You got to learn and bond with every character, and see how their true flaws have been hidden by Richards desire to be a part of their group. This story shows the wicked in the beautiful and that rarely is something as it seems. Donna depicts everything is such detail that you feel and perfectly imagine everything that Richard experiences. I would definitely re read this book in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

cyan_altaria's review against another edition

2.0

dark reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

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     The biggest problem with The Secret History is the pacing.  It was really slow, and the chapters felt padded.  The last three were especially long.  Chapter 6 & 7 could have easily been cut in half, and chapter 8 could have been cut down by a third.  The characters all felt too similar.  The only one of the main 6 who had distinct dialogue was Bunny.  The narration often felt rather pretentious, and it diverged to musings completely unrelated to the plot too many times.  The set up (ch. 1-3) also took a bit too long, but it wasn't as bad as the second part was.  
     The best part was ch. 4 & 5.  These chapters were honestly really engaging.  Alas, ch. 6-8 were a slog to get through.  Seeing the character's warped philosophy is what would've made the book shine, and ch. 4 & 5 are where it comes though the clearest.  In the end, this book was honestly not that good.

Who do I recommend this for? People who like very philosophical books, and die-hard fans of the dark academia genre
Who should consider giving this a pass? People who dislike books with obscure words, people who like fast paced books, people who need the main characters to be likeable, and people who hate over-description
Will I read more books by Donna Tartt? No.  This book was too slow and overwritten for my taste, and I'm not interested in giving her another shot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Murder, Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Classism

Minor: Animal death, Incest, Violence, Car accident

bookdragon_jess's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

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Wow

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Misogyny, Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Suicidal thoughts

paulah27's review against another edition

3.5

dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts

netylu's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicide, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death

ananyaramesh's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Incest, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape

mmefish's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The Secret History is considered a classic for a reason: it feels real, it’s smart, it’s manipulative. Donna Tartt masterfully crafted characters that are easy to hate but hard not to be drawn to – just like Richard, we crave for them and then want them gone. 
I would say TSH is a challenging read - it made me feel rather gloomy. Nevertheless, it would be a 5 star read if some of the scenes didn’t stretch out for so long (particularly in chapter 6).

Our own selves make us most unhappy, and that’s why we’re so anxious to lose them […]

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse

marristmass's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Incest, Suicide, Murder, Toxic friendship