Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

27 reviews

esme_may's review

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My deep hatred of

Bunny

knows no bounds. I knew it would be good but no one told me it would be Like This

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Ableism, Incest, Mental illness, Antisemitism, Car accident, Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, and Blood

Minor: Cancer, Kidnapping, Outing, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

elizabeth_lepore's review

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Sexism, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, Ableism, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

michaelcoleallen's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The Secret History by Donna Tartt has an incredibly developed main cast but its real strength is in how those personality traits and quirks manifest in such minor ways in the relaxed environment of a privileged east-coast liberal arts school, yet have the potential to slowly dominate a character when stress (i.e. murder) is applied.

The pacing was quite good. As the novel enters the last two hundred pages the main character, Richard, thinks less and reacts more in the face of consequences from the uh… thing that he must discuss in ancient greek when the gang is in public which builds a quicker finale of events.

I enjoyed my time with the novel and may even reread. I can recommend it on the basis of good prose, great character study, and a pretty gripping narrative even considering the opening spoiler. Just don’t expect it to be eye-opening, transcendent, etc. It’s a murder story told as a thoughtful page-turner and has allusions to things like Proust and The Iliad to boot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Ableism, Addiction, Classism, Cursing, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Incest

autumngk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book is fucking insane

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcoholism, Death, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, and Gun violence

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Rape, and Panic attacks/disorders

tramonta's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Gun violence, and Gore

Moderate: Classism, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Incest

Minor: Rape and Ableism

zoehakim's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Classism, Cursing, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Antisemitism, Confinement, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Animal death, Grief, Murder, Outing, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Vomit, Body shaming, Suicide, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

soniajoy98's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Ableism, Addiction, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Incest, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape and Sexual content

quinn24's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Racial slurs, Death, Drug use, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Self harm, Antisemitism, Classism, Islamophobia, and Racism

Minor: Car accident, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Animal death

juliettea's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Addiction, Classism, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Drug use, Biphobia, Blood, Violence, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Misogyny, Grief, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Murder, Homophobia, and Incest

Minor: Abandonment, Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, Vomit, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Islamophobia, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Outing, Gore, Violence, and Gaslighting

madelonpaige's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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: Suicide, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Gun violence, Ableism, and Homophobia