Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

ההיסטוריה הסודית by Donna Tartt

484 reviews

lanaminton's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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truly the best book i’ve ever read. it’s incredibly well written with such interesting characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Classism

jvlitaa's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder

frankielovestofu's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Moderate: Body horror, Incest, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail

Could do without the incest and racial slurs. Arguably, the racial slurs can be “justified” because they’re each only spoken once or twice by specific characters, and author either corrects behaviour of characters through another character or implies it’s not her thoughts. It’s clearly just to show how bigoted the characters saying it are, but still. The incest is left ambiguous at the end, whether it’s a long-term SA situation or consensual relationship turned sour at end. Either way, definitely could of been written without with very minor impact on plot and/or book. I.e. could still write controlling character without sexual subplot. Sorry not sorry. In addition, haven’t seen anyone mention it. There’s an extremely triggering (quick) mention of rape on page 484. Just skip the paragraph. It has NO effect on plot, it’s just unecessary and vulgar.

essentially the protagonist is speaking to the female character, and in mid-conversation (since book is his inner monologue) internally shares his sudden urge to strangle and rape his friend, then says the thought disappears as quickly as it came. conversation continues, never mentioned again. the worst part, is that the female character is in the midst of sharing her physical and sexual abuse from her brother when our protagonist thinks this

alisonkolonick's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Antisemitism, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Classism

lyrapollock's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent

archercasper's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I really wanted to like this book but it just felt so...convoluted. I'm not particularly a fan of unreliable narrators and most of the characters just annoyed me. The writing was okay but often hard to follow and so incredibly dense. It took me months to get through this book. I feel if I reread it I might be inclined to give it a higher rating, but as of now I just have no interest in doing so. Totally overhyped, in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, Alcohol

Moderate: Gun violence, Incest

_eleanorgreen8_'s review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I'd wanted to read this book for ages and it definitely lived up to the hype. It took quite a while to read, but I think that was good because the book's slow pace meant I could really appreciate every detail. Despite being long, detailed and slow, this book was by no means boring and I found every chapter engaging. The overall story felt more like a deep reflection on the past than a conventional thriller, which I really liked because of the amount of beautiful, meaningful phrases the narrator used when describing events. The atmosphere of the book felt quite meta, and I believed every philosophical idea. However, the ending was not quite as exciting as I'd hoped and I felt that the tone of the story was very much the same throughout, making plot twists less shocking. But overall, this was a timeless, original book that made me feel really smart and intellectual while reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt

Minor: Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Blood

tomoonarmy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Medical trauma, Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

peach_pie's review against another edition

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I really wanted to like this book, but man it was so depressing and anxious. And I know it’s probably the point, but the characters really aren’t likeable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

5.0

dark 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

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“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 loose them.”
The Secret History follows Richard, a poor transfer student from California, who joins an elite classics curriculum on a whim, only to be pulled into the eccentrics and depravity of his six fellow classics students and their encouraging teacher.

As modern classic and inspiration for many of the writing minds of today, I expected to enjoy this novel greatly. However, I could have never predicted the hold it would have on me, even months after reading.

Richard was such an interesting choice as a narrator, since he emulated the “Nick Carroway effect” from the Great Gastby, navigating the line between accomplice and complicit, outsider versus infiltrator.

One aspect of the novel that gets lost in translation is its satirical premise. While it may be easy to romanticize the aspects of the novel Tartt creates, especially the setting, recognizing the privilege, racism, and elitism in higher institutions is an important part of the story.

Overall, for fans of literary fiction with a blend of thriller, I would suggest The Secret History as your next read! But as always, check trigger warnings before reading!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Classism