Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Secret History

This is definitely worth the hype. The characters are so intense and the writing is so so good. You really start to feel for all of them and like be angry at them etc. You also start to see like how far people are willing to go to impress eachother/ maintain their social standing and financial status. A really good look at humanity and banality and violence and all that jazz. My only qualm is the

ending, bc what the heck like I just wanted more closure or something. Like yes it was really crazy but it wasn't crazy enough for the book to be setting up for that for so long yk.

And also I loved the scary ass magical realism undertones (the "deer" they kept seeing that they thought was Dionysus.)

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kierrareads_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

Really should've read the content warnings going into this book!

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sooreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

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alex_cousins's review

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.25

a little boring, i can’t get behind it for some reason - i know loads of people love it. It’s dark and academic and I think the plot was good, but if it was more temporal or fast paced i would have enjoyed it better. Don’t regret reading it though

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hannahsutherland's review

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dark slow-paced

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

This book was fine. I can see why some people like it, but I'm surprised it's as popular as it is.

I listened to a few parts as the audio book which is narrated by Donna Tartt which is quite nice.

There were a few things I disliked.
-It mainly seems to be vibes, with a few shock moments thrown in. It's a thriller, I guess, so that is fine. But then why is it 600 pages long. The pacing is off, the book often drags.
-Lack of female charcters.
-The

twincest

seemed super unecessary and I felt the

domestic violence

was very poorly handled.
-Something about the way the book treats homosexuality gave me the ick.

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tessmcn's review against another edition

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dark mysterious relaxing 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

Okay, I’m sorry but why do you make the main character the most BORING character. He seems to miss everything and you just get recounts of what happened in dialogue - which isn’t bad by any means, but it’s not the most thrilling to hear second hand stories all the way through. Loved the first 300ish pages but then it dragged on.

did we really need to walk through the entirety of Bunny’s funeral?? absolutely not.

Judy Poovey is the protagonist, queen, and saving grace for the Boring Richard and I will die on this hill.

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noamireadsgraphicsmurfnovels's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-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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