Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - ההיסטוריה הסודית

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

ההיסטוריה הסודית by Donna Tartt

483 reviews

booksbutmakeitgay's review against another edition

1.5

dark reflective tense 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: Yes

The first third of this book was interesting enough, but then it just got worse and worse

Content Warnings

adverb17's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark reflective 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

Content Warnings

coles14_'s review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

virdix14's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

The first half is a relatively slow-paced build-up, while the second half features more action. I found that I enjoyed the thoughtful, tense mystery of the first half more, but I loved the book altogether. The characters are (generally, rich and pretentious) classics students, and annoying as they are endearing. There were a lot of subtle references to Greek mythology and classics that, when I understood them, made the experience of reading it that much more rich and immersive.

Content Warnings

natw3's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous mysterious reflective 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: Yes

The main character, Richard, goes away to college in Vermont. He wants to study Greek but isn’t allowed to at first because the Greek professor Julian Morrow only takes on a few pupils at a time. After proving his worth he joins the classes. The other students are Henry, Edmund (Bunny), Francis, Charles, and Camilla. The other students put it in their mind to invoke Dionysus, one of the wildest gods in any pantheons.

They leave Bunny and Richard out of this and the other students end up killing a man. Bunny holds this over their heads until they end up killing Bunny because they were afraid he wouldn’t keep his mouth shut. The first half up the book was leading up to them killing Bunny and the second half was them trying to get away with the crime and the aftermah. Charles becomes and alcoholic. Harry and Camilla become romantically involved. Charles threatens Harry with a gun and ends up shooting Richard (who survives) and Harry shoots himself but survives for a few days in the hospital. In the end they all go their separate ways but continue to suffer from their actions in the past. Hints are given that Harry could possibly be alive or it is just their brain playing tricks on them.

I dislike that the chapters were so long and it took forever to get it going. I think that the book could’ve been way shorter. Even though I admire the authors writing and comprehension of Greek it was very intense to read.

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