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carodunn's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria
Minor: Sexual violence and Suicidal thoughts
elibrownn's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Racism, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
raypaws's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Self harm
faithstuff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism
sgtbuckaroo's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
They are all, in some way or another and some more than others, people who you wouldn’t want to be around in real life. Each character has at least one undesirable trait, and they are all morally gray if not explicitly bad people. However, I still found them enjoyable, which I believe is made possible by the fact that they are clearly not meant to be likeable as human beings.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Suicide attempt
uss_mary_shelley's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexism
ppp's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
marleysclassics's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Because, though it might seem strange, in my opinion one of the best parts of this book was the developments of the characters in terms of likability. I liked all of them as I didn‘t know them at all and with every page I read I began to detest every one of them a little more. While I wouldn‘t call every single person of in this book a bad person, some certainly are. And I was so here for it, because it felt like hating them more meant understanding them more.
If you want to read this book because of the vibes - definitely. They‘re there, yet I wouldn‘t expect too much of the academia and a little more of the dark aspect. Not to say that academia isn‘t a reoccurring theme, because it is, but there really aren‘t that many lessons or anything. It‘s more about the whole setting, and the motives of the characters yet in a more abstract way.
I also loved the writing, because it is beautiful and meaningful and often SO pretentious - and it knows it is and it‘s okay because it romanticises and critiques its own style and contents at the same time. (I actually think that‘s the essence of the whole dark academia genre.) I flew through the pages, and especially the first part of the novel was SO addictive. You know what‘s going to happen from page one and still you become more interested with every page. And sometimes you can‘t even tell what draws you too the pages, yet there is something. Unfortunately, this lacked a bit in the second half. Especially towards the end, there were some parts which really grabbed me, but there were also long passages which I wasn‘t interested in. At some point, this narrative just turns into a fever dream/nightmare/sequence of drug abuse, and partly this became a tiring. But also not entirely.
In the end, I‘m pretty sure I‘ll have to read this again.
P.S.: I never answered the question „Are the flaws of the main character(s) a main focus of the book?“ more confidently.
And now I‘ll put this book in my shelf right next to The Picture of Dorian Gray
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Grief
Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Car accident
justaddwater's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Body horror, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment
theliteraryel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.
First and foremost, Donna Tartt's writing style is a beautiful. Her elegant and evocative tone draws you into a world where the lines between right and wrong are often blurred. The morally ambiguous characters are beautifully crafted, and their complex development keeps you questioning yours throughout the novel. One page you despise them and the next, you feel for them, heartbroken over their inner turmoil. There may be spoilers from here onwards, was hard to separate them.
Francis, a sensitive soul, is perhaps the most genuine among the group. He proves on many occasion he cares deeply about everyone in the group. He keeps going until the unbearable guilt almost consumes him. His letter to Richard in the epilogue, revealing his suicidal plan, broke my heart.
"Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly for the ones that I did not."
While I was never so relieved he survived, it was so sad to see him succumbed his grandfathers pressure and married a woman he didn’t love and had to walk away from the man he loved. Despite being far from the ideal, I think, I am still glad that he survived.
Richard is the narrator. We read everything through his memories. It is so open to manipulate, as he learned from the best, how much did he manipulate us, readers? Despite all the paranoia, it is impossible not to empathize with his desperation for belonging to a group, a family, to fit in his new world.
I would’ve been unhappy anywhere.He also didn’t know how to ask for things, for help or for attention. It was heartbreaking when he was shot and waited them to realize and nobody did.
He brought most on himself. He knew it was wrong to kill Bunny, he literally had no reason to because he wasn’t involved with neither Bacchanal nor killing the farmer during, yet he went along with it because he was loyal to the fault, he adopted their crimes, was manipulated into terrible things, which ended breaking him beyond repair. He realized Henry’s ulterior motives too late. His love for Camilla was something I also not something I quite understood as we almost never saw them together, but at the end of everything, after all those years, they way he begged was one of the saddest moments in the book. He is one of the most loneliest characters I have ever read, he ends up with the ghost of Henry and even that leaves him in the end.
Does such a thing as “the fatal flaw,” that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.
Henry probably the most complex character of all, charismatic, intelligent, wealthy, natural leader and yet a narcissistic manipulator who is so subtle and artful that it is almost impossible to notice, to say no. Despite knowing all his flaws, probably seeing through him before Richard does, it is really hard not to be fascinated by him. He had twisted relationships with everyone. I never quite understood why he gave in to Bunny before the Bacchanal, he seemed to dislike him and weirdly pitying him for his shitty family but it still doesn’t explain everything he let Bunny. And it was carnal after the murder of the farmer, as if almost he let Bunny to an insufferable point to justify killing him. It was same for Bunny’s family afterwards, obviously it is guilt and all, but still it is hard to understand why he took that much of weird attitude from Corcorans. There is so much to anaylize and unload just about Henry. The way he is gone, he remains enigmatic and making you question his motives till the very end.
Camilla and Charles were package deal most times. While Camilla was more silent and reserved, Charles was outgoing and fun. We never truly saw her or understood her motives. The only moment Camilla was honest and I appreciated her was at the very end, when she finally admitted her love for Henry and turned Richard down. Charles’s transformation from timid, charming and outgoing young man to dark, abusive and paranoid broken boy was an impressive reverse character development. Their complex and abusive relationship went beyond imagination all the way till incest. This turned to a breaking point for all, Henry killing himself and Charles being mentally further broken. Despite turning into a horrible person, I was sad for Charles in the end, from all that glory to living in a hole. The guilt and paranoia ate him alive. He deserved that? Maybe, probably, definitely. But still hard to witness a human breaking down to that point even if they brought it on themselves.
“And if beauty is terror,” said Julian, “then what is desire? We think we have many desires, but in fact we have only one. What is it?”
“To live,” said Camilla.
“To live forever,” said Bunny, chin cupped in palm.
Bunny was hard to like from the start, cruel, selfish, homophobic, liar, abuser and so on. The way he spoke was so pretentious and condescending all the time made his dialogues were hard to believe. He became unbearable with constant blackmailing, cruel remarks and demands. It is easy to say that he brought his own downfall, he deserved to be killed. But did he really? The biggest moral quest of all characters in the book. They could justify it in many ways but did they actually have right to kill him? Absolutely not. I disliked Bunny throughout the book, still, when he got pushed off the cliff, something tugged at my chest. It was hard to bear all that dragged and overdone funeral for him. In the light of his letter to Julian, towards the end I found myself missing him and feeling sad for his end. Manipulation at its finest, huh?
Julian was the most influential figure despite his absence. I wished we had more of his lectures. His passion and teaching style were ultimately responsible for his students’ obsessive actions? Maybe. Was he directly responsible? Of course, not. I expected he acted differently in the end, somehow mend his destructive influence on them in some ways. Instead, he immediately ran away. Maybe he was afraid for his own life, or being dragged into the murders in case they were revealed or maybe, he was simply horrified of what he had influenced. We will never know, I guess.
There are so many things to talk about this book, yet I’m stunned since I read it. I have to admit it was not an easy read, not meant to be, probably. While the book's non-linear timeline adds to its allure, some plot points feel dragged and eventually unresolved. I was so paranoid at some points I was suspicious with every single one of them. Probably how Bunny and Charles felt. I admired them, I hated them, I felt for them, I felt uneasy, I felt all the feelings. The meticulous world building and description of atmosphere sucked you in, immediately. It was almost as if feeling among them listening them talking from the corner of a room or back in the class.
The whole book is questioning beauty and morality. This exploration of beauty leads to the characters decent into guilt and destruction one by one. Donna Tartt successfully achieves to question your morals along with the rollercoaster of feelings. A true masterpiece and something to come back to, indeed.
Love doesn’t conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.
PS: The amount of alcohol and cigarettes consumed in the book was highly disturbing. I could feel my lungs and liver give up reading it.
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Incest, and Grief
Minor: Drug use and Panic attacks/disorders