Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

25 reviews

em_gauts's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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: Racism, Alcoholism, Addiction, Classism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Alcohol, Grief, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Drug use

Moderate: Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Outing

Minor: Sexual assault, Stalking, and Rape

jessfastlane's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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, Death, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, and Drug use

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, and Drug abuse

Minor: Antisemitism, Death of parent, Incest, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse

cviii's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic friendship, Incest, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Homophobia, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Misogyny

Minor: Rape, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Stalking, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

tomoonarmy's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

rory_john14's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Gore, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Gun violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Death, Drug use, and Homophobia

Moderate: Grief, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Classism, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Minor: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Biphobia, Antisemitism, Cancer, Car accident, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Stalking, Vomit, Child death, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

clarathromycin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Donna Tartt’s writing was excellent throughout the book.  The characters were strong and you could feel the anticipation build.  However, I did feel as if she was taking extraordinary liberties with the use of racial and homophobic slurs in the dialogue of her bigoted characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Cursing, Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Vomit, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Blood, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Classism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Animal death

mrs_elliott19's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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

Blurb:

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of morality, their lives are changed profoundly and for ever.

The Secret History is a story of two parts; the chain of events that led to the death of a classmate—and what happened next.

Thoughts: 

Let me start off my review my saying I simple picked up this book due to seeing people gush about it over and over on instagram, and the fact that it was first published the year I was born. 

I’m not gonna lie, it took me a longggg time to read it, simply because the first half was almost so boring I almost didn’t finish it. 

But, in the end, I am glad I did. It is incredible slow at the beginning I will admit, but in the end, I am glad I stuck threw and finished its.

Content Warnings: Murder, Alcoholism, Suicide, Incest, Racist Slurs, Toxic Relationships, Drugs, Addiction, Animal Death, Bullying, A Little Sexual Contact, Hate Crime, Toxic Friendships – to list a few, you can find more on StoryGraph.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Grief, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Incest, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Death

saeruh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

    This is without a doubt the strangest book I have ever read. I did not particularly enjoy reading this as I became disgusted almost every line with everything the characters said or did. All of the characters were just so heartless and lacked any type of empathy. However, this is the best writing I ever seen and while I may not want it to, this novel and its prose will stay me for my entire life. 
      I really don’t know how to feel about any of the characters since Tartt was so good at making you sympathize with them and then immediately having them do something incredibly rude/perverse/gross. Also I recommend reading a list of content/trigger warnings BEFORE you read this because I did not and oh boy there is so so many.
   

Overall, I wasn’t really grossed out by the murdering since it wasn’t that graphically described but when it came to the part when Tartt describes the incestuous relationship between Charles and Camilla where Richard watches them kiss, I literally thought I was going to throw up. And it was so fucked up how nobody else in the group really cared/already knew 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮. And then Richard only cares because he wanted to fuck her!!!! what??? There was another scene where you really see how fucked up Richard has become by being involved in all this/maybe it was in him all along when Camilla is in a vulnerable state describing the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she receives from her brother and the narration is actually something like “I thought I might rape her” What The Fuck man. Who is this dude that we’ve spent so long in ONLY his head actually.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Incest, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Cursing, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Blood, Outing, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, and Racism

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

readinghavoc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

I really enjoyed this book – it was dense at times and intimidatingly long, but the pay-off is well worth it. Kept me on the edge of my seat and continuously shocked me. The first hundred pages dragged and I almost put it down, but I'm so glad I didn't. The last 100 pages alone more than make up for it. The characters were hard for me to connect to because they were so pretentious but as you progress through the book it becomes clear that that serves its own purposes in the story. Super bizarre story, would recommend it to someone looking for a really thoroughly laid out thriller who doesn't mind making the investment for a big thrill. Interested to read some of Tartt's other work (after some easier, quicker reads lol).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Incest, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Cursing, Suicide, Gore, Mental illness, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Classism, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Sexism, and Infidelity

Minor: Animal death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Outing, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Toxic friendship