Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Il cardellino by Donna Tartt

176 reviews

bxnnny's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

i've previously read donna tartt's the secret history, which i overall liked but also felt like it wasn't quite it for me. the goldfinch was an improvement in my opinion and i do think i was more attached to the story and its characters this time. it's a very poignant book about grief and the what if's of life. the butterfly effect, fate, karma, and what could have been versus what is. as someone who has never had to deal with any real grief regarding death, i often struggled to understand theo and the things he did and didn't do. for example, i struggled to understand why he didn't have much of anything that belonged to his mother after her death and

why he never even put up a fight to prevent his father from selling/giving away all of her belongings and the things they shared together while holding on so tightly to the painting that ultimately just caused him more grief and trouble.

but as the book went on, i came to understand that the painting was an allegory for the grief he felt for his mother and that if he lost it or gave it away or sold it or whatever - if he didn't have it anymore, this thing so closely related to the day of her death, to the events that caused her death, to this massive loss and life-altering day, then he would forget her. then he wouldn't have her. if he didn't have that grief to hold onto, he would forget her, and thus lose her entirely, forever. he held onto that painting and held onto that grief as the last way he could hold onto his mother. the last thing tying him to that day and what happened to her. but in the end, the grief and the memories were all still there, regardless of the painting, and regardless of anything else. very well done. i do wish we could have learned more about pippa and what all she was going through/up to and i do there was more about what happened to everyone in the end, but i understand why it was left to be more unknown and ambiguous. also good god, i wish donna tartt would make shorter chapters! but i'm glad she at least introduced the roman numerals within the chapters to break it up a little bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Drug use, and Drug abuse

some very minor internalized homophobia.

lgwhite's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Violence

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

moz_art's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Gorgeous prose, with some banger twists, but overall slow and bulky for my liking. I enjoyed the beginning, the middle was a whole lot of nothing, the ending was all over the place and confusing. Too many plotlines but doesn’t fully focus on any of them for long enough for me to care. Finishing the book felt like a relief. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Cursing, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism and Addiction

zmeeks04's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Blood and Violence

Minor: Animal death

finn_lover's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

I started reading this book because of the movie, I absolutely fell in love with the movie and I also did with the book, I've cried to the book many times but it's so good, Boris is my favorite character out of them all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Self harm, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Grief, and Drug use

definitely lots of drug usage. and abuse and suicidal thoughts and one suicide attempt.

another_fine_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Emotional abuse and Domestic abuse

my_a's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.25

God it was so slow, I waited the whole time for the story to start and it didn't until about 180 pages from the end. By which time I was so bored I just wanted it to end. But I did enjoy the writing style. Just way too long and slow. Definetly didn't need to be anywhere near 800 pages. I don't understand how it won the Pulitzer prize or how a lot of this wasn't edited down/out.

I also found the ending really dissapointing and was waiting and hoping for much more intrigue and mystery, double bluffs. I felt the actual story and denouement fell flat and short, especially for such a long book. Especially the last few pages was so weird and didactic which didn't match the tone and style of the rest of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Vomit

gem192's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Grief

elliehaahr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Grief, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Mental illness