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azureumbreon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Child abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Addiction
jg34'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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Murder, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Addiction, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment
marianneiriss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
If you’ve read and enjoyed other long, slow, and at times frustrating books (for example, Crime and Punishment!), you like to read books with entirely unlikeable characters and unreliable narrators, and you don’t mind forays into odd, illogical, trains of thought and extremely long sentences - yes, definitely read The Goldfinch!
If you’ve read and enjoyed The Secret History, and you are hoping for something in the same vein of content/themes from The Goldfinch - I probably wouldn’t recommend it to you, because it’s honestly nothing like TSH, and I think you might be disappointed if you go into expecting it to be similar!
Personally, I thought that although it’s not an easy read, it was worth it. I’ve not been able to stop thinking about The Goldfinch since I finished last month.
I loved the lyrical writing - Donna Tartt has beautiful prose. And she captures this feeling of a kind of resigned despair so well, it pervades the entire book. I actually had to take a bit of a break from reading it at one point just to read something a bit less unhappy (I wouldn’t class this as ‘a sad book’ necessarily, but it is an unhappy book, at times desperately so). I’ve included some content warnings at the end of this review, and I would recommend looking into them before you decide to commit to reading The Goldfinch, as it does deal with heavy subject matter.
All this being said, I did think that it is a fantastic book overall, and if you’re currently battling through it I would recommend sticking with it, as you’ll be glad by the end that you did. Despite how frustrating it feels at times - I certainly felt like yelling at Theo “please, just don’t do that, just don’t” at multiple points! - it is well worth persevering with it.
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, Abandonment, and Infidelity
rae_kjise'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: Racial slurs, Death, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Drug use, Car accident, Blood, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Gun violence, Murder, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Addiction
marleywrites's review against another edition
Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Grief, and Drug use
Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Homophobia, Child death, and Islamophobia
Minor: Sexual content
syd4panda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Death of parent, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Vomit
akvolcano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Misogyny, Addiction, Antisemitism, Cursing, Death of parent, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Violence, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Abandonment, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Dysphoria, and Xenophobia
lcyarnall1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Drug abuse, Abandonment, and Addiction
Terrorist attack/bombing contenttuesdaydg's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Grief, Addiction, Drug use, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Car accident
misterorms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Car accident, Bullying, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, and Addiction
Moderate: Mass/school shootings and Adult/minor relationship