Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Dio di Illusioni by Donna Tartt

133 reviews

carodunn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

very nihilistic in a satisfying way

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Content Warnings

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

elibrownn's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Racism, Religious bigotry, Drug use, Alcoholism, Suicide, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Homophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, and Panic attacks/disorders

justaddwater's review against another edition

challenging dark 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Violence, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, and Torture

brotestantethic's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.75

Breathtaking. I have to say as a graduate of a tiny liberal arts college, this book hit very close to home. There’s something about hiding who you are, falling in with a group, and discovering it’s not the world you thought you were entering. Despite everything that happens here, that was my main takeaway from this book. It’s rated so highly because i enjoyed it, but this is in no way a perfect book. It’s pretentious, it rambles, it tries too hard to touch too many different themes. It’s stunning for its bones, its writing, and its beauty. I read this because it is popular and I was surprisingly impressed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Alcoholism, Suicide, and Incest

Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

colittle's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.75

Richard failing to remember certain key details near the end of the story when he’s recalled everything else in vivid detail seems more like a cop-out than an intentional literary decision. Other than that, 5 stars. The seminal dark academia novel and an often satirical examination of class, elitism, and aestheticism. 

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Content Warnings

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

takarakei's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.25

I give this book props for being the OG Dark Academia (which is why I read it), but personally I am more interested in more recent additions to that genre. That being said I can respect it for the influence this book has had. I like that the subgenre has moved into a place of critiquing elitist academia in a not so subtle way (I feel that any critique of academia in this was too vague to be taken seriously).
I definitely feel like it could have ~100 pages of monotony edited out, or those parts should have been replaced by more time with Julian in the classroom / explaining the catalyst of what they were studying influencing the original group (and why they were in the woods...)
I found it interesting to think about the moral quandary of Bunny being a supremely unlikeable character and how we as readers can empathize with the desire to get rid of him from the other character's POV. All the characters are disastrously flawed and the only one I actually feel bad for in the end is Camilla. If you can stand to read about pretentious flawed horrible characters who are continually awful to each other then I guess it's an interesting character study book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Drug use, Misogyny, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Incest, and Racism

Minor: Religious bigotry, Animal death, Racial slurs, and Rape

just_a_random_dead_thing's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Incest, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Addiction

Moderate: Sexism, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Hate crime, Classism, Animal death, Sexual assault, Cursing, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

salem0's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

read by and reviewed: 10.02.23
this review may be a bit disjointed, i have so much to say.

really good, i think. i had to look into the book's meaning a bit after i finished it. the story, as i understand, plays out like a greek tragedy- with all the titular characters in the end stuck in the past, with various degrees of badly-dealt-with trauma. 

finding out slowly how julian played a hand in the whole fiasco, and the whole group- even henry- were manipulated by this illusion of divinity is pretty interesting. henry's death feels very much like a tragic greek hero's sacrifice, and it really drives home how much of a myth he and the gang were playing into throughout the book- obsessed with ancient greece, trying to seem more elite than they actually were (often to a pretentious extent), trying to be like greek characters to a point where they attempt a bacchanal- not to mention how they become more and more disconnected from reality- till it all crashes down. 

richard, the unreliable narrator telling the story of his 'secret history', is the most sympathetic fellow of the group i found, though there is some irritation warranted for his pretentiousness. his idolization of the professor and his friends, and how he slowly comes to realize he may have been wrong about them all this time, was one of the best parts of the story. watching all the characters lose their shit after bunny's death is quite fascinating, and just a bit saddening, though when you remember the terrible things they've done it feels like some dramatic comeuppance. you still end up feeling a little sad for how it's all turned out for them. i found myself hoping that richard, and maybe francis, get better, that he moves on one day from all that's occurred. it's a very tragic, tragic ending, executed perfectly. 

last up, in terms of technical stuff- the writing's great, and there are so many beautiful quotes in this book. it really could've been cut down tho, the first half just has so many unnecessary parts. nearly all of the part where richard's fumbling around during the break could have been removed. it would've been nice to see more of camilla too. that's all. overall, good shit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Drug use, Addiction, Homophobia, and Suicide

Minor: Antisemitism, Incest, Sexual content, Outing, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

abiofpellinor's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

These people are awful and yet I couldn't look away. A true book hangover after finishing. This is a damn masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Classism, Mental illness, Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape

dennyiii's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Car accident, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Addiction, Antisemitism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Violence, Classism, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexual content