Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Dio di Illusioni

Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Dio di Illusioni by Donna Tartt

57 reviews

remuslibrary's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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itsocchiolism's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

i wanted to like this book so much, especially after all the hype around it but it just wasn’t for me. i didn’t like the characters at all and couldn’t sympathize with them. they all need therapy, and deserved to go to jail.

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ceryswilliams's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

One of the most beautifully written and well crafted books I’ve read but oddly, I didn’t enjoy it. I felt that rather than being driven by horrible circumstance, the characters were repulsive all along. I suppose that was the point: “beauty is terror.”

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nicoleme1212's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

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eliever's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

well. that was a ride

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frantically's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

2.25

It seems I am the person this book was meant for (or not — I can't decide). I understood all the Latin phrases, all the grammatical discussions, all the issues you come upon when trying to live out your academic life in a period that isn't the modern one (though I am more of the medieval than ancient variety).

The supposed criticism or commentary on the uptight, elitist, privileged world of academia or more specifically humanities is so obvious, it felt like it was constantly screaming at me. It was so overdone at some point that it felt like Tartt didn't even stand for it, just needed a theme for her book. And I despised it. Do you honestly expect me to care for characters who reek of privilege, whose lives seem to revolve around ignoring the problems in their own studies and never facing any consequences for their actions?

I'm all for criticising the system but maybe all this would've been better suited for a non-fiction book. A book with not one sympathetic character leaves little to enjoyment. If you want a Dark Academia book that handles the inequalities and elitism in academia a lot more nuanced, I'd recommend Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House.

The actual inequalities in academia are so much more subtle but so much more real too than they are portrayed in this book. It's not the money needed for nice clothes or booze but rather the lack of connections, the expensive conferences, the cost of publishing a dissertation, the limitations forced upon you by coming from a less university oriented school, the lack of money for funding or grants, the inaccessibility for any students who aren't mentally or physically healthy, the walls you run into trying to research as a woman in general but also trying to find funding and supporters for "female" subject matters, like sexuality or gender studies. Tartt makes it seem like the biggest challenge in academia are other students, when it's really the whole system that's at fault.

Tartt is definitely good at intimitating classical author's style — think Hardy or maybe even C. Brontë. Sadly, the magical world of New England we get sucked into is always contrasted by characters who were just living normal lives, having normal college experiences. I get that this was meant as a stylistic device to show just how different (and maybe even isolated?) the Classics students were but for me it just served to make their characters seem even less real.

I am that pretentious history student, I am constantly around other pretentious history students, I spent my trips to other countries deciphering Roman inscriptions and coins but by making humanities students into almost satires of the academic bubble, we encourage the continuation of that inherient elitism many humanities degrees still hold. Not just for ourselves but for outsiders as well. It serves absolutely noone to make our community so inaccessible by portraying ourselves as this idealized version of a humanities pupil (even one who commits murders on occasion). We're humans, we're students, we're all connected in this mess of academia and we're still allowed to like parties, to want normal relationships and friendships. Start realizing that Dark Academia is a genre of fiction — not something you should aspire to embody in your time at university. Live a little 🤍

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