Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

77 reviews

sunflower7skull's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Beautifully written and it reads like a classic, but I can't say I enjoyed the plot. Gorgeous and heart-wrenching descriptions of grief are the brightest point, which is sort of saying something. Definitely check the trigger warnings on this book, because the depictions of suicide and drug abuse are very graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Suicide, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Alcohol, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Car accident, Vomit, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty

Very graphic depictions of drug abuse, grief, suicide, and addiction! Watch out if that could bother you.

lambclown's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

Minor: Racial slurs

wesleyreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

4.25

Very original story, written very well (amazing atmospheric descriptions), gripping, it leaves you wanting more. I love the themes (guilt, grief, what's right and wrong, does such a thing as fate exist?), the symbolism, the way the characters all contrast each other and all serve to offer another perspective on the themes. There is just so much to unpack...

There was just one section of the book I found boring and I felt the character was wallowing in self-pity with not much going on for a while. Luckily the pace quickly picked up again. The end fell a bit flat, but I guess it was a choice lol.

I don't understand why so few people mention this but unfortunately there are a lot of racial stereotypes being portrayed. Any character who isn't American is basically a stereotype of their culture and even their dialogue is written in heavy accents, which I found unnecessary. As if as a rule immigrants can't learn to speak English well? For example, all Russian characters have the exact same voice and similar personalities. I would rate it higher, if it had been less obnoxious with that. 

Also, given its widespread success, the number of people involved in writing this book, and many reprints I found it surprising that there were several mistakes made when the author was trying to write Dutch words. 

Overall, a very amusing read that leaves you thinking about what it all meant, but be prepared for racism...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Racism and Racial slurs

paradicsomleves's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, and Vomit

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Blood

woweewhoa's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

While this book is very well written and a compelling character study, I unfortunately don't think I liked reading this book very much. It's a long and miserable read about Theodore Decker, our protagonist, ruining his life and getting his life ruined by others. It's a tragedy from the get go, and while its not all his fault, it's still hard to read at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

maddie_1999's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Gore, Abandonment, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Vomit, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, and Self harm

Moderate: Homophobia, Islamophobia, Racism, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Stalking, Violence, and Fatphobia

dillydallyallie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.25

Beautifully written but very slow. I enjoyed the prose and it contained very beautiful snippets of sentences that I found myself re-reading to appreciate. It is, however, quite lengthy and at times difficult to get through. As an infrequent reader I may not have finished it if it were not for summer reading in high school. That said, I am glad I read it. And to be fair, it’s not an easy task to live up to Tartt’s The Secret History.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Addiction, Mental illness, Violence, Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Abandonment

content warnings may be incomplete or slightly incorrect!! i read it a while ago so it’s just from what i can remember! also i don’t remember the severity so i added them all to moderate

myclutteredbookshelf's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was first introduced to Donna Tartt in my second year of university, when I discovered how popular she was in the online bookish community. People would tell me how complex her characters were, how thought-provoking her prose was, and I was immediately intrigued but too intimidated by the length of her novels to rush into reading them. I finally worked up the courage in January 2022 to read her debut novel, The Secret History, which follows a group of classics students who get caught in a web of secrets and murder. After so many years of hearing the internet butter up Tartt's writing, to my disappointment, I ended up hating the novel. The chapters were excruciating long with no page breaks, half of the main characters felt underdeveloped, and the plot contained several cliches you would expect from a first time author trying to make their debut as edgy as possible (e.g., two of the classics students are a brother and sister twin duo; three guesses as to what Tartt decided their big secret would be).

A part of me hoped this was just due to Tartt being a less experienced writer at the time of the book's release. So, I decided to give her a second chance and read her third published novel, The Goldfinch. And my god, were the improvements noticeable.

Read the full review at My Cluttered Bookshelf. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racial slurs, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

tinyfishbigheart's review against another edition

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Definitely a fatiguing book but the kind of book you’d want to teach or take a class on. So much going on in here! People I rooted for despite myself, the goldfinch as an emblem, the psychological triggers for the choices made compulsively, the life of the painting and the parallels to the soul of the protagonist, ask the people we meet by chance and what that really means, etc. Long book worth every minute and every page.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Torture, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Violence, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Chronic illness, Xenophobia, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail