Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Tajemna historia by Donna Tartt

64 reviews

zoe_werdy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A haunting book, you know right from the start the central tragedy but how it comes about and what happens after isn't what you expect. A complicated cast of characters, distinctly unlikeable but also alluring. Interesting to read and really interesting to delve into the subculture that has sprung up around this book. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. Its so long, but already I kind of want to read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Blood, Incest, Mental illness, Classism, and Death

austenite93's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Murder, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual harassment

emilyplun's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Murder, Alcohol, Gun violence, Grief, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

boston_fern420's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Oh god, what a book! The Secret History is a dark academia staple, full of classical mythology and blood.  Donna Tart's writing is dark and gripping; especially in her descriptions of the lush Vermont landscape that envelopes the campus. My favorite part was the section about their weekends at Francis' country home. The way the serenity they feel out in the woods contrasts with the darkness that looms overhead is absolutely delicious. 

As much as I enjoyed it, I do have to say it has a quite a long list of flaws. For starters, there is not a likeable to be found. The main character Richard is, to be frank, an idiot.

The chapter where he decides to risk freezing to death instead of taking the rest of the Greek Club's offer of lodging is incredibly irritating and I wanted to throw my book at the wall the entire time I was reading it. I also do not understand how it took him so long to realize he had joined a cult.

The rest of the Greek club is entirely comprised of pretentious, rich fucks. My least favorite was the king of homophobic-but-also-gay himself, Bunny.

although I of course loved the part where he's pushed off a cliff

There is also no character development; in fact I would argue that every single character regresses at least a little bit. 

The pacing is incredibly slow up until

Richard finds out about the murder of the farmer and Bunny is subsequently killed

. After the Big Climatic Event the pacing slows to a halt once again and the plot begins to feel a little lost. Then, out of nowhere, towards the end the plot jumps to a breakneck sprint culminating in a finale that feels very rushed and unsatisfying. It almost fells like Donna Tart knew how she wanted to begin and end this story, but was unsure of what to do in the middle. Oh, and don't even get me started on the afterword (it's dumb as fuck). 

All that said, this is still one of my favorite books. It skates by entirely on vibes and I definitely understand why someone would not like it. However, I still find myself unable to stay mad at it for too long. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexism, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Incest

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Thought I'd like it more but it's not for me. Think I won't be picking up The Goldfinch either.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Rape, Suicide, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, and Animal death

freddysreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Cursing, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Kidnapping

this book started so slow & finally paced up after like 400 pages. All very pretentious, characters very unlovable, involves many slurs & is sadly not directly critiquing the bourgeoisie as i would have liked it to do. rich kids basically fuck up & have money & do drugs & drink and read books. wow. not really groundbreaking.

raiynnn's review against another edition

dark reflective 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: Alcohol, Murder, Racism, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Drug abuse, Drug use, Islamophobia, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Death, Alcoholism, Classism, Incest, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Self harm and Car accident

clarathromycin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

Donna Tartt’s writing was excellent throughout the book.  The characters were strong and you could feel the anticipation build.  However, I did feel as if she was taking extraordinary liberties with the use of racial and homophobic slurs in the dialogue of her bigoted characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Cursing, Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Vomit, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Blood, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Classism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Animal death

dowsa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

a dark academia classic, oh wow. I read this partly for the aesthetic but I was shocked at how interesting this story was - most of the characters were not likeable at all, the main character richard reminded me a bit of Cady from mean girls and nick carraway from the great gatsby, the horrible justifications for their actions followed by the immediate consequences was reminiscent of a greek tragedy (which makes sense). I do think the book is summarized a little incorrectly, since the professor does not play as huge a role as you think but overall it was the perfect dark and twisted book to start the Fall

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

Moderate: Incest

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