Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

864 reviews

nneka23's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.5

I found this story to be underwhelming at some points and intriguing at others. I listened to the audiobook version so maybe I wasn’t paying full attention the whole way through. But I couldn’t help wondering why  Richard made the decisions he made. When things started taking a dark turn, it seemed like there were so many opportunities for him to change course and separate himself from the group he wanted so desperately to be part of. I understand wanting to have a sense of belonging, but I can’t understand sticking around to be associated with such terrible people who committed such vile acts. This story was interesting enough for me to keep listening, simply because I wanted to know how it would all end. That said, there were many sections that seemed to drag on, which diminished some of my interest. The pace picks up within the third act and I noticed that was when I finally started getting into it. Overall, I think this story could have been told in fewer pages. I’d recommend this book if you’re interested in a slow-burn story about how elitism and hyper-intellectualism can have dangerous implications for anyone, but particularly for young people who are still finding their identities. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Suicide, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, and Suicide attempt

brot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Suicide

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Incest and Homophobia

norabeideineroma's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Misogyny, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Grief, Blood, Animal death, Biphobia, Car accident, Drug use, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Cursing, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

nclovelock's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Racial slurs, Murder, Suicide, Drug use, Alcohol, Addiction, Blood, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

dean_issov's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

hellomon's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Drug use, Suicide, Murder, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism

barf_mobile's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

My hot take is that authors should never voice their own audiobooks. Not somthing I'd normally read, but I found it gripping though I think a lot of the metaphor went over my head. It was pretty much both exactly what I thought it would be and nothing that I thought it would be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Suicide attempt

jakirby's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Grief, Self harm, Death, Incest, Mental illness, and Drug abuse

bookzplz's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

“i’m just having a bit of trouble with my passport.”

i technically started this book in the winter of 2022 and for various reasons, put it down

shortly after bunny’s death

. i think it was a little overhyped and i wasn’t sure what to expect so i decided to leave it there. i’m glad i picked it back up. 

this book does an excellent job of showing the blinders people in academia frequently have on and how the isolation under the guise of supremacy can be detrimental. nobody was ever happy. they studied the classics because it was the thing to do, the only one who concluded their studies was richard because he financially had to and, of course,

was alive to do so

. for most of them, classics was something to study because they could and less so because they were actually interested in the subject. the book also expertly showed the favorite pastime of affluent white people, ignoring things they don’t want to deal with or “sweeping it under the rug”. these people, richard excluded, have no actual experience with dealing with their problems.

when bunny is essentially threatening to go forward with what he suspects about them, they never talk to him about it, they give into his extortion and when that gets too tiring they decide to murder him.

it’s less a secret history of what happened and more so outing the secret ways that the wealthy go about ignoring their problems and finding ways of not dealing with them.

i guarantee you i will read this book again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Death, Antisemitism, Grief, Homophobia, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

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

Minor: Misogyny, Gun violence, and Body horror

ilsabelle's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Classism, Violence, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Murder, Mental illness, Addiction, and Gun violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Incest, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Homophobia