Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - Dio di Illusioni

“…she really was older, not the glancing-eyed girl I had fallen in love with but no less beautiful for that; beautiful now in a way that a less excited my senses than tore at my very heart”

“Mais, vrai, J'ai trop pleure! Les aubes sont navrantes.”

“…and my life which I had thought was lost, stretched out indescribably precious and sweet before me.”

“Some things are too terrible to grasp at once. Other things - naked, sputtering, indelible in their horror - are too terrible to really grasp ever at all. It is only later, in solitude, in memory that the realisation dawns: when the ashes are cold; when the mourners have departed; when one looks around and finds oneself - quite to one's surprise - in an entirely different world.”

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arthedgehog's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

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nikkimajean's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

I have to say, it did take me a while to get fully hooked on this book. I don't find Richard (the protagonist and POV character) to be likeable at all. But once I fully got immersed into the story, I couldn't really put it down. I think the brilliance in the writing is that, even though the person who is telling the story is not necessarily likeable, the story itself is so good that you can't help but keep reading. And though most of the characters were deeply insufferable in the way only wealthy, white college kids can be, you actually feel for them. In the end, I only wished for the best for them. In my opinion, this book is definitely worth the hype it gets.

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phantomeyer's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective 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

2.5

I kept waiting for this book to impress me. It never delivered. It did a good job of sustaining a vague tension, but it was also sufficiently hazy that the (likely intentional) feeling of unreality meant that I was unmoved by the plot. Plus, I had very little interest in the characters: a bunch of pretentious caricatures the lot of them. If I’m going to be told a murder story in first person, it needs to be a hell of a lot more gripping. And no, I don’t mean fast-paced. I mean more thought-provoking/eerie/evocative…. Basically somehow more interesting and entertaining. I don’t know what it says about me that many reviewers found this book to be “crazy” and really dark, whereas I mostly felt underwhelmed?

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