Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Le Maître des illusions by Donna Tartt

307 reviews

frog4earth'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

100% worth my time, and will be more than worth a re-read (likely also necessary tbh) sometime in the future. I liked the moral greyness of the characters, and the development of them questioning their own character, motivations, etc. throughout the book. The atmosphere and setting was amazing but I’m also just very granola so Hampden sounds heavenly to me 😅 I love Tartt’s writing style and I feel that she writes with a lot of symbolism and overlaying motifs — all of which I tried my best to tab throughout my reading of this novel! The plot was interesting, but I very much wished they delved deeper into the Bacchanal in the forest. I know the point is for it to be this mysterious, divine Dionysian experience that they remember little-to-nothing about (and keep Richard VERY in the dark about), but that was probably one of the most interesting points in the plot line for me. Why did they all agree to do it? What did they do to get to that point? What did it feel like? Etc. 

I definitely see how the fluidity of sexuality within the characters relates back to Greek sexuality (or really, lack thereof; they bedded with whoever they wanted 🤷🏻‍♀️), I just wish it was explored a littleeee more!!! Also, Camilla and Charles’ sexual relationship unfortunately felt a bit forced/irrelevant to me. I feel as though their incestual relationship in the book was just written for unnervingness and shock value. 

I do appreciate, however, the nod to the way some women function in a male-dominated world. The way Camilla dresses herself and composes herself to be more “boyish” seems to be an intentional choice to make herself not stand out in a group of pretentious ass men (Lmao). 

I also wish the ending didn’t feel so rushed — I thoroughly enjoyed the slow tension build up in the middle of the plot and it felt a little underwhelming the way it ended so quickly!Overall, I enjoyed this book thoroughly, stayed up the night finishing it! I will absolutely have to give it a re-read at some point to see what I may have missed, so I look forward to that in the future :)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

addythebookbat's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Incest, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Cancer, Death, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Gun violence

noamireadsgraphicsmurfnovels's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Classism, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Blood, Incest, Mental illness, Homophobia, Murder, Self harm, Rape, Sexual violence, Car accident, Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Death, and Physical abuse

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Alcoholism, Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Incest, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Homophobia, Misogyny, Cursing, Death of parent, and Eating disorder

raypaws's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Drug use, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Suicide, Murder, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Animal death, Incest, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, and Sexism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Rape

faithstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Classism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Death, Incest, Violence, Gore, Grief, and Medical content

sgtbuckaroo's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

I really did enjoy reading this book, the characters and the story. However, enjoying the characters does not mean liking them as people. Because they are most definitely not meant to be likeable people. Enjoyable? Yes. Likeable? No.

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.

I also found it very interesting to read about and analyze Richard’s perspective of everyone else, and compare it to my understanding of them (although using only Richards observations).

The writing was good, as one would expect from a writer such as Donna Tartt, although a little difficult at some points which I believe is because  I am not a native English speaker. However, even though some parts were more difficult than others, they were never to the extent of being too much or unintelligible. 

I’ve put off reading this book for quite some time, but I’m very glad I got to reading it. It’s a great story, and a very interesting one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Murder, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death, and Gun violence

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Incest, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Panic attacks/disorders

aurjolras's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Suicide

Moderate: Domestic abuse

uss_mary_shelley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Addiction, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Self harm

Minor: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexism

hfrancesh's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Alcoholism

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Incest