Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Tajemna historia by Donna Tartt

44 reviews

hunnybeemarie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective slow-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

The Secret History was everything I hoped it would be! It is, as we all know, THE dark academia book. It explores a ton of interesting themes in amazing depth. It has a lot to say about Beauty; beauty as terror, the desire for beauty, and finding beauty in the macabre. It's really interesting to see the way some of the characters find so much beauty and fascination in such terrible things. 
It also discusses death and fate, isolation and knowledge, control and obsession, class and wealth. The way that Donna Tartt is able to weave so many themes into one book is phenomenal to see. There is never a point in which this book feels scattered or like it's doing too much. It keeps you enthralled from beginning to end.
This book is a masterclass in writing and intrigue. The fact that the "main event" doesn't happen until halfway through the book, but you are interested for all of the pages beforehand and all of the pages afterward, is quite a unique feat. 
I finally feel complete in my dark academic dreams having finally read this book all the way through. I started it once before when I was 13. I got about halfway through and I actually annotated it back then! They are the ugliest annotations I've ever seen and it was pretty funny to be able to see them. I think I thought I was pretty clever lol 😂 I don't know where I got half of the things that I wrote down back then from! The most random, kind of pretentious annotations 💀 
All in all, I loved reading and annotating this book, and it absolutely lives up to the hype. There are a few things that felt a little odd or unnecessary to me that are keeping me from giving it a full five stars, therefore I'm giving the secret history a still VERY good 4.75 ⭐ 
(Please look up the trigger warnings before reading this book)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicide, Racism, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Incest, Animal death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

bronzeageholly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Incest, Addiction, Blood, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Mental illness, Medical content, Sexual content, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, and Gun violence

v_neptune's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Incest, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Death, Cursing, Addiction, Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, and Fatphobia

_rowan_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Alcohol, Classism, and Incest

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Classism, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Vomit, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

Minor: Domestic abuse

becreadsbooks_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

So sick and twisted I wanna punch Donna Tartt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Infidelity, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Medical trauma, Murder, Self harm, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Car accident, Classism, and Death

readinghavoc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I really enjoyed this book – it was dense at times and intimidatingly long, but the pay-off is well worth it. Kept me on the edge of my seat and continuously shocked me. The first hundred pages dragged and I almost put it down, but I'm so glad I didn't. The last 100 pages alone more than make up for it. The characters were hard for me to connect to because they were so pretentious but as you progress through the book it becomes clear that that serves its own purposes in the story. Super bizarre story, would recommend it to someone looking for a really thoroughly laid out thriller who doesn't mind making the investment for a big thrill. Interested to read some of Tartt's other work (after some easier, quicker reads lol).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Incest, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Cursing, Suicide, Gore, Mental illness, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Classism, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Sexism, and Infidelity

Minor: Animal death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Outing, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

No wonder it's such a beloved story, I couldn't stop listening even for a moment. I want to own a copy of this book and read it again. How vivid and atmospheric, it made me want to learn ancient Greek and go to college to study it. Absolutely adored the horrible protagonists, such flawed characters and yet it was so easy for me to love them. I'm so glad I read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Death, Animal death, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Vomit, Cursing, Blood, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Classism, Abandonment, and Incest

Minor: Animal cruelty

eve_o's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Incest, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

livbarry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, Incest, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcoholism, Death, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Infidelity, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail