Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

117 reviews

colittle's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

Richard failing to remember certain key details near the end of the story when he’s recalled everything else in vivid detail seems more like a cop-out than an intentional literary decision. Other than that, 5 stars. The seminal dark academia novel and an often satirical examination of class, elitism, and aestheticism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Classism, Gaslighting, Murder, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body shaming, Homophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Racial slurs, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Outing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Incest

telemesmerism's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

Just not really worth reading. an awfully long book to read about characters who suck and arent interesting and a very mediocre plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Animal death, Antisemitism, Medical content, Incest, Racism, Car accident, and Sexism

briochebun's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

4 out of 5 ☆’s.

“Love doesn’t conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.”

ੈ✩‧₊˚

The Secret History has been on my TBR for quite some time and I am so glad that I finally put some time aside to read it.

While I cannot say that my life was forever altered by this novel (though my feelings on that may change with time) I feel as though giving it anything less than 4 starts would be doing it an immense disservice. Readers of TSH will be able to see the impact that the novel has had on the Dark Academia genre and I think that in and of itself is an incredible feat that speaks to Tartt’s skill.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Outing, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, Medical content, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent

Minor: Kidnapping

caelinsullivan's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Self harm, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Homophobia, Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Islamophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Classism, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Misogyny, Addiction, and Incest

Minor: Sexual assault

nadia_luq's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Murder, Islamophobia, Alcoholism, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Addiction, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Body horror, Animal death, and Blood

eclloyd's review against another edition

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, Incest, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

fulan's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Incest, Alcoholism, Murder, Alcohol, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Self harm, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and Suicide attempt

daybreakreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

The first 90% of this book: overhyped, poorly researched (details that were factually inaccurate; Plano, CA is two hours’ driving distance from Disneyland, he couldn’t have seen the fireworks from his house, one of the characters reads a book written by the “Persians” which was in Arabic — odd for a book so focused on foreign language, etc.), rather pretentious.

Last 10%: twist ending was interesting, and I enjoyed it, but it didn’t justify the 22 hours I spent listening to the audiobook. The author was the voice actor, and the voice she used for Bunny was incredibly irritating.

Interesting notes:
- this is a slow burn. Doesn’t pick up at all until ~50%. The writing style is intriguing
- none of the characters (even side ones) are “good guys”
- there’s a ton of random racist/antisemetic/homophobic comments, but they’re usually a one-off thing. The only exception to this was 3/4 of the way through there was a recurring trend of anti-Arab things that served no point to the overall plot whatsoever. It was odd for a book written in the 90s. There was a fake country full of “jihadist terrorists” mentioned several times, “sand [n word]” used against a Palestinian (who was only written for a brief moment in which he was yelling as the “angry Arab man” stereotype, “Arab” and “Arabic” were used incorrectly, general xenophobic remarks, etc. And then it just randomly stopped. 

As a Muslim the last thing just came across a bit ridiculous more than anything. I didn’t see the relevance, or the reason to focus significantly more on that than the other marginalized groups.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Self harm, Mental illness, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Incest, Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, and Violence

Minor: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Rape, Islamophobia, Racial slurs, and War

alyx7564'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Antisemitism, Classism, Death, Drug use, Gore, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Rape, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Biphobia, Islamophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Blood, Car accident, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

suzylit's review

dark lighthearted mysterious 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

3.75

I could have given this novel a higher rating if the pace had been a bit faster. The atmosphere and the characters are well built. Suspense and mystery are indeed present, yet there are a des lengthy passages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Self harm

Minor: Dementia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Islamophobia