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globgr's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Murder and Alcoholism
Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, Incest, Drug use, and Racial slurs
Minor: Islamophobia
barbiedreamlibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a story told from the viewpoint of the most milquetoast NPC of a narrator to ever narrate named Richard. 🙄 It’s about a student that transfers from California (his home state) to an elite liberal arts college in Vermont. He becomes enamored with and befriends a group of students that are also studying Ancient Greek. Anyways, what I was anticipating was a robust plot with an occasional bacchanal but I would often take breaks from this book because there’s only so much drinking, drugging and smoking one can do and it was boring and worrisome for the characters and the reading became such a drudge. To sum up this book, you’re essentially privy to 550+ pages of the moral decay of this friend group which includes: murder, incest, suicide, alcoholism, drunk driving, drugs, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism, etc. While I was reading this I was expecting this to be an unreliable narrator twist but sadly Richard remained devoid of any personality through the end.
The only redeemable main character in the story for me was annoying af Bunny, not even Richard found murdering people to be enough of an objectionable offense to stop hanging out with these people. The writing was descriptive and at times really nice but the plot and character building was too anemic to thoroughly enjoy.
Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Drug use, Incest, Racism, Islamophobia, and Suicide
carodunn'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
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Death
Moderate: Racial slurs, Gun violence, Incest, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual violence and Suicidal thoughts
marleysclassics's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Because, though it might seem strange, in my opinion one of the best parts of this book was the developments of the characters in terms of likability. I liked all of them as I didn‘t know them at all and with every page I read I began to detest every one of them a little more. While I wouldn‘t call every single person of in this book a bad person, some certainly are. And I was so here for it, because it felt like hating them more meant understanding them more.
If you want to read this book because of the vibes - definitely. They‘re there, yet I wouldn‘t expect too much of the academia and a little more of the dark aspect. Not to say that academia isn‘t a reoccurring theme, because it is, but there really aren‘t that many lessons or anything. It‘s more about the whole setting, and the motives of the characters yet in a more abstract way.
I also loved the writing, because it is beautiful and meaningful and often SO pretentious - and it knows it is and it‘s okay because it romanticises and critiques its own style and contents at the same time. (I actually think that‘s the essence of the whole dark academia genre.) I flew through the pages, and especially the first part of the novel was SO addictive. You know what‘s going to happen from page one and still you become more interested with every page. And sometimes you can‘t even tell what draws you too the pages, yet there is something. Unfortunately, this lacked a bit in the second half. Especially towards the end, there were some parts which really grabbed me, but there were also long passages which I wasn‘t interested in. At some point, this narrative just turns into a fever dream/nightmare/sequence of drug abuse, and partly this became a tiring. But also not entirely.
In the end, I‘m pretty sure I‘ll have to read this again.
P.S.: I never answered the question „Are the flaws of the main character(s) a main focus of the book?“ more confidently.
And now I‘ll put this book in my shelf right next to The Picture of Dorian Gray
Graphic: Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Mental illness
Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide
Minor: Antisemitism, Blood, Car accident, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Animal death, Homophobia, Islamophobia, and Racism
hbocking'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
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Suicide, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Self harm, Incest, and Animal cruelty
pbeeandj'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Incest, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Murder, Classism, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Suicide, Islamophobia, Homophobia, and Grief
Moderate: Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Antisemitism, Vomit, Rape, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Sexism
colittle's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Classism, Gaslighting, Murder, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, and Suicide
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body shaming, Homophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Racial slurs, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Outing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Incest
telemesmerism's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Animal death, Antisemitism, Medical content, Incest, Racism, Car accident, and Sexism
briochebun's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“Love doesn’t conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.”
ੈ✩‧₊˚
The Secret History has been on my TBR for quite some time and I am so glad that I finally put some time aside to read it.
While I cannot say that my life was forever altered by this novel (though my feelings on that may change with time) I feel as though giving it anything less than 4 starts would be doing it an immense disservice. Readers of TSH will be able to see the impact that the novel has had on the Dark Academia genre and I think that in and of itself is an incredible feat that speaks to Tartt’s skill.
Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Outing, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, Medical content, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent
Minor: Kidnapping
caelinsullivan'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
Graphic: Grief, Self harm, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Homophobia, Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Islamophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Classism, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Misogyny, Addiction, and Incest
Minor: Sexual assault