Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Gizli Tarih by Donna Tartt

795 reviews

shirumoon's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.5

Never good to get into a book because of a hype I feel like because my expectations were way too high. I mean yeah, it was really well written (though I must say, I didn't read the original edition in English) but so incredibly dragged out. The story captivated me enough to finish it but it didn't touch me emotionally and the twists and turns of the plot didn't really hit. Honestly more mystery leaning thrillers just may not entirely be the right genre for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexism, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

coralynski's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Racism, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Death, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Homophobia, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

philosopher_kj's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Incest, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Misogyny, Vomit, Homophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Animal death

angel_kiiss's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

I do love reading about bad people. If you don’t like reading about bad or morally grey people I guess don’t read this very good book? 

An exceptionally interesting book that is paced well up until the end. The third act is slow but ironically rushes in the end. 

I did, however, spend the whole book trying to figure out what part of the character of Bunny or the story inspired Mona Awad to write her novel. So far I’ve still made no connection between the two Bunnys to make sense of it. Other than the fact that it’s about to poor kids getting caught up in the lives of their rich peers while at an exclusive university. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Death, Grief, Blood, Incest, Animal death, Murder, and Drug use

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

terrortwilight's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Alcohol, and Blood

jemimaesmee's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

This was an absolute tome of a book. I have never required so much will-power to complete a read. I find it very difficult to rate because while it is intriguing, well written and unexpected, it is also drawn out and somewhat boring in places too. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body horror, Incest, and Suicide attempt

manderleylilacs's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm really glad I read this, it was down as a bucket list read for a long time. a I'm honestly shocked that so much of the dark academia aesthetic was tied to this novel, since it's shown throughout the book that the students taking Greek are pretentious, self-absorbed pricks; and it seems like everyone else in the university is incompetent or drunk/high constantly. The valley girls who the Greek students look down on seem to be the only semi-decent people here. That isn't a critique at all since that looks to be the point, but I don't know how that part of the fandom was able to emerge, I was gripped towards the end of the book wondering what would happen to the group, not that I was particularly wishing for a happy ending for any of them. I might have been more ~enamoured~ with the characters or aesthetic is I had read this as a teenager.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Islamophobia, Drug use, Racism, Addiction, Murder, Racial slurs, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Classism, Alcohol, and Gun violence

Moderate: Incest, Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Gore

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, and Religious bigotry

I'm really glad I read this, it was down as a bucket list read for a long time. a I'm honestly shocked that so much of the dark academia aesthetic was tied to this novel, since it's shown throughout the book that the students taking Greek are pretentious, self-absorbed pricks; and it seems like everyone else in the university is incompetent or drunk/high constantly. The valley girls who the Greek students look down on seem to be the only semi-decent people here. That isn't a critique at all since that looks to be the point, but I don't know how that part of the fandom was able to emerge, I was gripped towards the end of the book wondering what would happen to the group, not that I was particularly wishing for a happy ending for any of them. I might have been more ~enamoured~ with the characters or aesthetic is I had read this as a teenager.

l0veth1ng's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

such a compelling read, even though i struggled to really get into it until the 100 page mark. enjoyed this SO much

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Murder

Moderate: Incest and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Rape and Outing

bloodroses's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, and Murder

Moderate: Incest

bluejay21's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Drug use