Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Jumalat juhlivat öisin by Donna Tartt

460 reviews

euannn900's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

5.0

This book was incredible. Both aesthetically pleasing and beautifully written, it made me feel shocked, tense and often angry. But nothing compared to it's descendance into delightful but confronting chaos, the best  part of the book, which grabbed you and never let you go, even once you put the book down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Racial slurs, Incest, Racism, and Homophobia

beckyg1016's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.0

The book description seems, to me, incredibly misleading. "Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor" - you mean the one who barely shows up at all, has minimal lines, and doesn't seem to influence anyone but Henry.  Henry is the driving force of this story and all of its actors. "...discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries." - You mean that one time? While that event is the catalyst for all others, it is not the point of the story - these characters don't "find a new way of thinking and living" - they spend a semester trying to avoid getting caught for a crime they are only somewhat remorseful about and then move on with their lives in much the same way as all of their "humdrum" classmates. 
Additionally, as noted in the Content Warnings section, Bunny is a difficult character to read. I get that you aren't supposed to like him, he is typical for the time, etc. but I was uncomfortable nearly every time he opened his mouth and that, at least, puts you on the side of the other characters. I surely did not miss him once he was gone.
To be fair, Tartt has a lovely writing voice. If she didn't, this would absolutely be my first DNF of the year. The story was captivating for maybe 250/550 pages - the rest was just a push to finish so I could move on to the next book in my TBR pile.
Every book has its reader - and I've seen plenty of people giving this book high ratings - so maybe that reader is you, and you will love it. I hope so. It certainly wasn't for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Alcoholism, Suicide, Homophobia, and Self harm

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Sexism, Classism, Racism, Animal cruelty, Incest, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

bellbirdie's review against another edition

dark funny 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Classism, Murder, and Incest

lani__'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Alcohol, Drug use, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, and Classism

Minor: Sexual violence and Racial slurs

sparrow_1's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Suicide, Blood, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Drug use, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Incest and Toxic relationship

rach_bella's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

5.0

Beauty is terror 

A lot of things have been said about this book, enough so that I can’t find much more to say. Only that it is very rare that a book leaves a mark on me like this one did, that I found a little piece of myself in each of the characters, that by the end of the book I felt as though I lived and breathed besides them. I have come to the conclusion that in order to enjoy this book you will need three things:
1) an appreciation for atmospheric prose with a love for literature itself 
2) morally grey/ambiguous characters
3) a touch of madness 
Check content warnings before reading
(Judy was my favourite character and deserved more scenes)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Incest, Drug use, Homophobia, Violence, Suicide, Racism, Sexism, Death, Racial slurs, and Mental illness

haileyeh's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Medical content, Homophobia, Racism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Toxic relationship, Incest, Death of parent, Vomit, Eating disorder, Animal death, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Classism

micareads123's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

Modelled after a Greek tragedy, with its flawed and lost protagonist and cast of equally flawed and lost secondary characters, a murder and the subsequent unravelling of life as they know it, this book is a tragedy in the purest form of the word. 

If you go into this book expecting a murder mystery, you will be disappointed. This book is long, and we find out how the murder happens halfway through. For the remainder, Tartt takes us on a deep dive into the individual fatal flaws of all characters involved and slowly picks away at all of the strings holding their lives together. 

This book is an excellent study on perspective and how easily it can be distorted and on the deceptive nature of appearances. It takes a close look at humanity, and how far we can stretch the meaning of the word. 

Do check content warnings for this one, as it takes many dark turns! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Alcoholism, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Fatphobia

alemarton's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.5

This book has intrigued me since I was a child, wandering by libraries at every chance I got and it did not fail me. I think this book is fantastic, the characters are flawed but that's how they are supposed to be: shallow, naive, without clear morals. They are following a world (the ancient time) that does not exist anymore and they are living in a sort of parallel world, where the Greek and Latin and their cultures are in the center and no real consequences matter. That is also because most of the characters are extremely rich and, in today's world, they are treated in a totally different way in respect to normal people. We can see how the characters at first were described as legends in the eyes of the protagonist and, going on with reading, we notice how they are deeply flawed. A great example is that of the teacher: he was fairly famous and encountered many celebrities during his life, at first in the book there were descriptions of the professor made by these characters that were totally positive and, in the end, when the real nature of Julian is revealed, there are two descriptions that really incapsulate his character. I loved that the book was very slow paced, however I thought the chapters were sometimes extremely long, even tho I understand the intent of the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Addiction, Classism, Incest, Murder, Suicide attempt, Sexism, and Racism

Minor: Rape

edwardian_girl_next_door's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Suicide, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Murder, Gun violence, Drug use, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Classism, Cursing, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, and Racial slurs