Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Tajemna historia by Donna Tartt

31 reviews

ctb681's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It’s a book that will leave you devastated once you finish the last sentence. 

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naomi_salters's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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eveybrittin's review against another edition

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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 feel like the content warnings sum it up... a well-written but strange and fairly boring novel. I had hope for the characters but they just weren't good people

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lucyford's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was SO GOOD. I don’t even know how to describe it in a way that truly encapsulates everything good about it. The plot is so well-written, and is really brought to life by the amazing writing style and slight poetic element to it, and all the atmospheres she creates just feel so real. Not to mention the foreshadowing (when you’re reading, you know it’s foreshadowing to something but you don’t know what it’s foreshadowing to, which is just so cool), and the fact that you’re always wondering how the story is possibly going to progress from point A to point B. The characters are all so complicated and interesting, and the themes of the books are very philosophical which makes the book all the more interesting. Overall, 10/10 read, absolutely exceeded my expectations. (ALSO THE ENDING??? CAUGHT ME SO OFF GUARD OMG)

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neliadiedenise's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75


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karinaymejia's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.25

great for people who dont like too many things going on, thriller, and classics.

i feel like the title is a bit dramatic for the story. it makes sense of course, but i feel like there should have been another title used for it.

this book is slow and may feel boring at times. it's interesting to see how the story progresses. i am personally not a huge fan of this style. i sort of liked the read. i wanted a more dramatic story, but thats my cup of tea.

i like the time period where this is in because I get to read what it feels like during this time.

i find it unsettling about the characters that Richard encounters and becomes friends with. I think Charles and Henry make me the most unsettling, especially near the end.

overall i had a bit of higher expectations because of the popularity. i understand the mixed reviews now!

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sadiaa's review against another edition

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dark

4.75


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dennyiii's review against another edition

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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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warlockdorian's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0


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audreading's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I seem to be in the minority in my feelings about this book, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
First, the positives: Donna Tartt is an incredible writer and the book is undoubtedly well-written. The dark academia vibes are there if that’s what you’re looking for. The imagery is so vivid. I felt like I could clearly see the campus and visualize all the characters, which typically isn’t easy for my nd brain. It was a page-turner for me despite how slowly things moved (though I wonder if that is because I kept turning, hoping to find what everyone was raving about).
Now, for the negatives: After hearing the reviews for this book, I went in expecting pure dark academia with layers of mystery and intrigue (one reviewer said it was like “grown up Harry Potter”; my expectations are not Tartt’s fault). I expected suspense and plot twists around every corner. But, to be honest, it didn’t take long to be able to predict what was going to happen at each turn. Yes, the characters seem at first to be unpredictable, but in reality they turn out to be entirely predictable to the point of being a cliché. So okay, maybe suspense and plot are not the purpose of the book. In that case, what is? When I finished the book, I was so confused. Was that really it? They supposedly have this obsession with Greek, but everyone except Henry seems hardly interested in it at all. So what are they forming their cult around? Henry himself? Boredom? None of them had an ounce of remorse, only fear of consequences. It felt like they were a group of sociopaths. Was this some commentary on privilege? If so, then why were only two of the characters actually rich? Why can’t the less-privileged ones see any horror in what they’re doing? Many people said that they found the characters likable at first and slowly realized how horrible they were, but that wasn’t the case for me. They had their moments, and certainly they were intriguing, but they always seemed horrible. And strangely all alike, with none of them except Bunny feigning disapproval of the wild decisions being made. Maybe they aren’t meant to be realistic characters, but a representation of this addiction to superficial aesthetics? If so, that point wasn’t really driven home for me. I am searching for anything substantial to get out of this, but sadly I haven’t found it yet.

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