Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Die geheime Geschichte, by Donna Tartt

141 reviews

ambdocksey22's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Death, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Blood, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Car accident, Gun violence, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

ibroughtyouknives's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Classism, Drug abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Violence, Homophobia, Death, Murder, Blood, Cursing, Suicide, and Antisemitism

Minor: Incest, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

kelseyr713's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

2.0

I appreciated this on a technical level, but there is so little happening (in terms of plot) from page to page and it’s just not what I’m looking for in the contemporary books I read. I love this level of detail in science fiction or fantasy or speculative novels, but I don’t think it’s necessary here.

It definitely made the English Literature major part of my brain light up again though. I was thinking about essay topics as I read (the amount of character analysis alone…)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Murder, Classism, Racial slurs, and Alcohol

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Xenophobia, Drug use, Abandonment, Incest, Blood, Car accident, Antisemitism, Racism, Rape, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Medical content, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Violence

roseisvibing's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.0

The Secret History is so slow-paced, oh my god. While the writing is very descriptive, there is so much unnecessary writing that makes you want to give up reading it. It takes like 200 pages (out of 600) of build up for any major plot development to happen. I like the intended message, but it is presented so indirectly in a text that is overall so longwinded that it almost loses meaning. It's the kind of book where you have to sit and process once you've finished- not in the 'wow, this has really affected me' kind of way, but in the 'what in the fuck did I just read' kind of way. The meaning/themes are very subtle, which meant I was left trying to figure out what point Tartt was intending to make with them. At times, it feels like events are just happening without a point to them. 

Also, I find the book's recent BookTok popularity very ironic given its intended message. I've seen people recommending this book because it's very 'dark academia' or 'aesthetic'- people are recommending it based on the aesthetics of the setting and the descriptive writing, which the book absolutely does provide (in an overly longwinded manner). However, the book's intended message is that having an obsession or fixation on aesthetics or outward appearances can lead to people overlooking necessary practical or internal traits. So, ironically, Tartt's text has kind of become exactly the opposite of what she intended, given that most readers' descriptions are reducing it to its aesthetics rather than its actual message and dark themes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Incest, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexism, Homophobia, Ableism, and Misogyny

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

itsapollo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

We're dealing with a story whose cast of characters are every one of them morally gray. Questioning morality and the fluctuations of one's own moral compass throughout various traumatic self inflicted circumstances. It's wildly fascinating. A tragedy where everyone loses. Where the product of their own choices may perhaps become punishment enough for the characters transgressions. The writing of this story is so intricately woven while at the same time only showing us the view from one Richard

Spoiler

"the bystander which I so essentially am"

Spoiler

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Gore, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Antisemitism, Self harm, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Sexual violence

joppiereading's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Nailed the dark academia atmosphere, with great nods to casual Greek or Latin but also to the mythological heritage of the classics, the epic and divine, a study on arrogance and feeling superior, and of course, a murder. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Homophobia, Murder, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Blood, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Classism, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide attempt

madelinequinne's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

although this took me almost a month to read (damn you terrible attention span!), i absolutely loved this book! I spent so much of the story not knowing which character to trust and trying to work out if Bunny was truly the ‘bad guy’ or maybe just someone who was scared of his friends and what they were capable of? The descriptions and writing in this book is absolutely beautiful and i highly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

pelledorso's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Alcoholism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug use, and Homophobia

Moderate: Violence and Incest

Minor: Vomit, Addiction, and Injury/Injury detail

hamletshedgehogs's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

I’ve never read a book quite like it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Grief, Drug use, Homophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Classism, Antisemitism, Cursing, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

Most of the content warnings available feature to some degree. These are mostly brief mentions that add to the realism of the story’s setting, rather than key elements of the plot, however it can be quite jarring all the same.

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

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