Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Le Maître des illusions by Donna Tartt

96 reviews

itsapollo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

We're dealing with a story whose cast of characters are every one of them morally gray. Questioning morality and the fluctuations of one's own moral compass throughout various traumatic self inflicted circumstances. It's wildly fascinating. A tragedy where everyone loses. Where the product of their own choices may perhaps become punishment enough for the characters transgressions. The writing of this story is so intricately woven while at the same time only showing us the view from one Richard

"the bystander which I so essentially am"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Gore, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Antisemitism, Self harm, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Sexual violence

hippejulia's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Incest, Sexual violence, Gun violence, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Animal death, and Classism

lavendermenace44's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Death, and Murder

Minor: Sexual violence

bleepbloop's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

stunning. balletic. gross. I feel like I could read this ten more times and find new insight in each reread.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Classism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Dementia, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual violence, Islamophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Domestic abuse

tomiebear's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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: Murder and Suicide

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Incest, and Sexual violence

Minor: Antisemitism, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Racial slurs

itsocchiolism's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-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

2.75

i wanted to like this book so much, especially after all the hype around it but it just wasn’t for me. i didn’t like the characters at all and couldn’t sympathize with them. they all need therapy, and deserved to go to jail.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Incest, Addiction, Racism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Eating disorder, Drug use, Classism, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Self harm, Mental illness, Alcohol, Medical content, Drug abuse, Death, Suicide, Murder, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Misogyny

Minor: Rape

andreadelo's review against another edition

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Antisemitism, Vomit, Addiction, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, Alcoholism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Outing, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Grief, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation

lottselgar's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

i mean. just genius. i hate all the characters so much

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Drug use, Incest, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Body horror

Moderate: Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, and Racial slurs

Minor: Rape, Animal death, Sexism, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Violence, Sexual violence, Self harm, and Death

unhallowing's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Racial slurs, Incest, Murder, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, Homophobia, Classism, Sexual violence, Blood, and Domestic abuse

frankielovestofu's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Murder, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Blood, Self harm, Body horror, Incest, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Could do without the incest and racial slurs. Arguably, the racial slurs can be “justified” because they’re each only spoken once or twice by specific characters, and author either corrects behaviour of characters through another character or implies it’s not her thoughts. It’s clearly just to show how bigoted the characters saying it are, but still. The incest is left ambiguous at the end, whether it’s a long-term SA situation or consensual relationship turned sour at end. Either way, definitely could of been written without with very minor impact on plot and/or book. I.e. could still write controlling character without sexual subplot. Sorry not sorry. In addition, haven’t seen anyone mention it. There’s an extremely triggering (quick) mention of rape on page 484. Just skip the paragraph. It has NO effect on plot, it’s just unecessary and vulgar.

essentially the protagonist is speaking to the female character, and in mid-conversation (since book is his inner monologue) internally shares his sudden urge to strangle and rape his friend, then says the thought disappears as quickly as it came. conversation continues, never mentioned again. the worst part, is that the female character is in the midst of sharing her physical and sexual abuse from her brother when our protagonist thinks this