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terrortwilight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Incest, Blood, and Alcohol
jemimaesmee's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Body horror, Incest, and Suicide attempt
manderleylilacs's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Islamophobia, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, and Abandonment
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry
I'm really glad I read this, it was down as a bucket list read for a long time. a I'm honestly shocked that so much of the dark academia aesthetic was tied to this novel, since it's shown throughout the book that the students taking Greek are pretentious, self-absorbed pricks; and it seems like everyone else in the university is incompetent or drunk/high constantly. The valley girls who the Greek students look down on seem to be the only semi-decent people here. That isn't a critique at all since that looks to be the point, but I don't know how that part of the fandom was able to emerge, I was gripped towards the end of the book wondering what would happen to the group, not that I was particularly wishing for a happy ending for any of them. I might have been more ~enamoured~ with the characters or aesthetic is I had read this as a teenager.l0veth1ng'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
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Incest and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Rape and Outing
bloodroses's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Drug use, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Incest
bluejay21'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: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol
deathmetalheron'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
4.25
First off, there is so much good in this book--in spite of being slow-paced, it's an incredibly gripping read. Richard + crew are exactly what you want out of morally compromised protagonists, they are flawed and overall bad people but they are compelling enough to read about. The references and the overlying theme of Greek tragedy playing out slowing in postmodern Vermont is really a stroke of genius. You can get little treats if you go back and read the parts in ancient languages again, learning new aspects about the characters and early foreshadowing in some cases.
The strongest aspect of this book is its condemnation, or rather strong criticism of elite academia and university. While there is no "hammer to anvil" moment where Richard goes on a diatribe about why college/"university" is dumb (and the text is all the better for it), the overlying theme of this permeates the vast majority of the text and creates the relationship dynamic with Richard and thew crew. By the end Richard has his realization that while college was somewhere he wanted to go and where he felt he had to, to the other Classics (particularly Henry) life is nothing more than an extremely extended stint in college, due to their wealth. Julian (arguably the true antagonist and representation of the entirety of academic excess) is basically the end-goal for Henry.
The other factor that shines is how even though everyone is unlikable to some extent, Bunny, who features some of the more obvious detestable traits like elitism, bigotry, and begging for money, it is
Now, where do I find critique with this text? For one, the obsession with the aesthetic of this damn book leaves a sour taste in my mouth--this is certainly one of those books where it's easy to get lost in "no, you don't get it, this is the real point" I do feel that moping around smoking cigarettes and wearing New England prep fashion is not exactly the takeaway you want from this book. I have the benefit of reading this in my 30s, and I knew people like the Classics when I was in college. The Magicians is much more hokey and goofy but it gets away with making fun of dark academia without making it feel sexy. The reaction to that makes me wonder if the themes of anti-elitism should have been more prominent and we didn't need to spend as much time going over the times Richard walks around drunk or how many Bloody Marys Charles orders and how fast he drinks them. At around 400 pages the prose begins to dip and we get extended, plodding sections that really betray the pace.
It's a phenomenal book, and I have so much good to say about it. But at the risk of falling into the milieu of takes on this book, there is a very clear set of themes to me, and yes, you can miss it if you get too lost in the aesthetic.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape and Antisemitism
loveat1stwrite's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
komiification's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Rape
avrilamber's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
The books plot is actually very minimal, so it’s a wonder how it manages to span 600 odd pages. But I adore Donna Tartt’s prose, I think it’s gorgeous. Some of the most mundane and ordinary plot points are written so descriptively, it really helped carry me through the book without me wanting to put it down.
I think a lot of the references to the classics were lost on me, but I don’t think I missed out on anything by not knowing the references either.
A great piece of modern literature, that really gives off the dark academia vibes.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Incest and Rape