Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

54 reviews

5_doogwood_drive's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Murder, Death, Suicide, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Incest, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Drug use

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, and Vomit

tea_kettle's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Incest, Alcohol, Drug use, Gun violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Misogyny, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Eating disorder, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual content, Animal death, and Antisemitism

directorpurry's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Violence, Blood, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Classism, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, and Eating disorder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Car accident

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

omfg. donna tartt is my mother. she’s insane for this.  holy SHIT!!! every single word was a vital part of this novel–down to the damn syllable. she has perfected the art of writing. the pacing of the book was magnificent and the characterization was stellar. every moment was so VIVID! her word choice was so perfect in every sense and every sentence and paragraph and piece of dialogue flowed so perfectly throughout the entire novel. her use of prose is so …entertaining? idk how to describe her writing but it’s everything i ever needed and more. she created a plot so full and detailed that i have no qualms at all; everything was perfectly laid out and set into place. this is the longest review i’ve written BY FAR. 

okay FIRST OF ALL, the INCEST? mawma i was floored. and camilla refusing to marry richard because she was in love with henry…girl please. be so real. henry’s death was fucking insane. every second of that encounter starting from charles barreling through the door to henry’s body hitting the ground was insane. AND THEN we find out that marion married one of bunny’s brothers!!!!!! stfu!!! and they had a baby!!! and the family decided to nickname it BUNNY. IM SORRY?! and when i read that letter that francis sent to richard my heart STOPPED. i would’ve been so mad at donna had she killed him off istg. he’s my one and only i love him far too much. good god this book. I JUST REMEMBERED the entire ritual that they had? oh my god!!!! donna!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Classism, Drug use, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Suicide, Violence, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Confinement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Stalking

Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Rape, Cancer, Death of parent, and Eating disorder

icarusandthesun's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-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

3.75

hallucinogenic, wild - an absolute fever dream.
the writing was impressive, the characters and their development smooth and spiralling like a vortex of water. their decline was obvious, yet so gradual and gracious that later one is left wondering, how could it come to this? how could the same characters that felt new and strange and beautifully secretive at the beginning, discussing greek prepositions in the library, become so fucked up and alien?
i went into this book expecting dark academia, a romantic murder accompanied by sweet greek verses and justified with latin proverbs. well, this was dark academia - for maybe the first hundred pages. after that it turned into a sort of psychological thriller but filled with alcohol and drugs, homer and thoroughly morally grey characters that had no sense of reality and being, in a sleepy town that felt as wicked and grey as its inhabitants.
i lost the book's story line and supposed purpose out of sight rather quickly - the time richard got pneumonia, to be exact. that was the first "what am i reading?"-moment of many yet to come.
and still, i found myself reading for hours straight, leisurely, curious and enticed. a little confused, a little enthralled. 
this book was as unpredictable as life itself, and as tempting as a cult.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Antisemitism, Eating disorder, Classism, Racial slurs, Animal death, Racism, Sexism, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Incest

c410berry's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Homophobia, Xenophobia, and Eating disorder

e_gracereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

I actually really enjoyed this? It’s entirely outside of my usually high fantasy or horror genres — this whole dark academia thriller thing left me a little skeptical at first. One thing that’s important to note: all of the characters are completely fucking insufferable. They are all absolutely miserable human beings. If you like books for characters you’ll love, this is probably not the book for you. They are incredibly complex, and the plot is AMAZING, but likable characters they are not. I highly recommend this book if you’re stepping into the dark academia genre for the first time — it was a wild ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, Murder, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Drug use, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Emotional abuse

remuslibrary's review

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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: Murder, Blood, Toxic friendship, Death, Suicide, Alcoholism, and Drug use

Moderate: Racism and Incest

Minor: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Antisemitism

itsocchiolism's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

2.75

i wanted to like this book so much, especially after all the hype around it but it just wasn’t for me. i didn’t like the characters at all and couldn’t sympathize with them. they all need therapy, and deserved to go to jail.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Incest, Addiction, Racism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Eating disorder, Drug use, Classism, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Self harm, Mental illness, Alcohol, Medical content, Drug abuse, Death, Suicide, Murder, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Misogyny

Minor: Rape

ceryswilliams's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

One of the most beautifully written and well crafted books I’ve read but oddly, I didn’t enjoy it. I felt that rather than being driven by horrible circumstance, the characters were repulsive all along. I suppose that was the point: “beauty is terror.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Classism, Alcoholism, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Blood, Violence, Death, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Homophobia and Incest

Minor: Eating disorder