Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Tajemna historia

Pretty pretentious and problematic with hardly any redeemable characters although a beautifully written enveloping story. I wouldn’t say I’m in either camp of Bible or abhor but I’m glad I read it. It’s an original story but weirdly felt as if it were written by a man. As Richard’s the narrator, Tartt might’ve done this purposefully so, perhaps I’ll read Goldfinch and see if it translates over. Also, could this have really occurred in the 90s? Of course it’s a more conservative circle, but still seems so dated.

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katalina's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

3.25

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_morgan's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

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funmilayo's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

5.0

“One likes to think there's something in it, that old platitude amor vincit omnia. But if I've learned one thing in my short sad life, it is that that particular platitude is a lie. Love doesn't conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool."

To make the reader care so deeply about characters so rotten and unlikeable is quite an impressive thing. None of the characters are good but all of them are incredibly real. Donna Tartt's writing is unbelievably vivid and beautifully haunting. I have never read anything quite like this novel and I doubt that I shall ever read anything like it again. The story starts out somewhat slow but it is more than worth it to get through those first few pages. I don't really know what else to say about this book so I'll just add some of my favourite Quotes.

“Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly for the ones that I did not.”

“There are such things as ghosts. People everywhere have always known that. And we believe in them every bit as much as Homer did. Only now, we call them by different names. Memory. The unconscious.”

“Why does that obstinate little voice in our heads torment us so? Could it be because it reminds us that we are alive, of our mortality, of our individual souls – which, after all, we are too afraid to surrender but yet make us feel more miserable than any other thing? It is a terrible thing to learn as a child that one is a being separate from the world, that no one and no thing hurts along with one’s burned tongues and skinned knees, that one’s aches and pains are all one’s own. Even more terrible, as we grow older, to learn that no person, no matter how beloved, can ever truly understand us. Our own selves make us most unhappy, and that’s why we’re so anxious to lose them, don’t you think?”

"some things are too terrible to grasp at once. other things – naked, sputtering, indelible in their horror – are too terrible to really ever grasp at all. it is only later, in solitude, in memory, that the realization 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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ainhoalikesbooksandmangos's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

I just finished the book, and i find myself at a lost of words. Mainly, because i don't truly understand what i read, and because i am really anxious, because of my period. So im going to watch 500 youtube video, to understand this book, that took me roughly one month to read. And everybody loves but i don't seam to get. I saw some things coming,

like the ending with Julian beaing really fake and Henry using everone for his benefit and that ending badly.

But i feel as stupid as the carachters, because i ended up feeling attached to them and hating them as much. They didn't make any sense, but that makes the so realistic in a way. And what i hated the most was when

Camilla and Richard, after all that time and all that happened, admit to love him. Because i felt like i ended up loving his character. I especially hate his relationship with Camila and i don't know why jet. I just feel secondhand manipulated by Henry

I truly don't know the ending also knocked me, and i don't know what to feel or think. Did i enjoyed reading it? Yes. Why? Don't know jet. I guess because it was a wild ride, like the characters and some of the descriptions of environments or of fellings. I'm just sure of one thing, I'm not reading this again. It would just make me sad for what is going to hapen to them, the end is kind of depressing, and I'm biased cause of my love-hate for them. Anyway i thin that it will stay on my mind, and i will end at loving it. So yeah, give it a shot if you like. Now I'm going to try to find somebody to explain it to me.
____________________________________________
Ok. Like a week has pased ,and i can't stop thinking about it. I love the vibes, the process of reading it has been connected to me relaxing in my commute. I also love the convos that i have found online about it, and the cool creative things that people do. So I'm changing my stars from 2.5 to 4. I know, pretty crazy. Will i read it again? I don't know yet because it's really dense. But probably yes. In the future.
Bye.

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kenzie26's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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spookystag's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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snailondawindow's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

wanky characters but encourages them, and the reader to reflect on the highbrow nature of academia, and whether the secrets one keeps, from others and themselves, are really worth it.

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