Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Die geheime Geschichte, by Donna Tartt

24 reviews

rosaleekarisma's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Antisemitism, Grief, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Addiction, Incest, Medical content, Violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Self harm, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, and Death of parent

intrusive thoughts

rae_diant's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Suicide, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Xenophobia, Addiction, Islamophobia, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Homophobia, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Gaslighting

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

dark 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Racism, Incest, Mental illness, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Death, Bullying, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Drug use, Murder, Classism, Physical abuse, Blood, Violence, Gore, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Confinement

Moderate: Eating disorder and Medical content

Minor: Ableism, Antisemitism, Vomit, Death of parent, Infidelity, Car accident, Cancer, and Sexual content

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

5.0

“Even more terrible, as we grow older, to learn that no person, no matter how beloved, can ever truly understand us. Our own selves make us most unhappy, and that’s why we’re so anxious to loose them.”
The Secret History follows Richard, a poor transfer student from California, who joins an elite classics curriculum on a whim, only to be pulled into the eccentrics and depravity of his six fellow classics students and their encouraging teacher.

As modern classic and inspiration for many of the writing minds of today, I expected to enjoy this novel greatly. However, I could have never predicted the hold it would have on me, even months after reading.

Richard was such an interesting choice as a narrator, since he emulated the “Nick Carroway effect” from the Great Gastby, navigating the line between accomplice and complicit, outsider versus infiltrator.

One aspect of the novel that gets lost in translation is its satirical premise. While it may be easy to romanticize the aspects of the novel Tartt creates, especially the setting, recognizing the privilege, racism, and elitism in higher institutions is an important part of the story.

Overall, for fans of literary fiction with a blend of thriller, I would suggest The Secret History as your next read! But as always, check trigger warnings before reading!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Animal death, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship

uhh_sydney's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.25

People hyped up this book so much as a dark academia necessity when all they did was chainsmoke, drink too much, and kill people. Richard is the most boring protagonist I’ve ever read. He’s just a vessel for other characters to tell him and by extension the reader what the plot line is. He has hardly any personality if his own. This book doesn’t show, it tells. I want to watch things fall apart before me, not have some other character ramble to Richard for three and a half pages. Also, why is everyone obsessed with Camilla?

Spoiler

Why does Richard love her besides she’s pretty I guess? Why does she get involved with Henry? Why does HER OWN TWIN BROTHER GET ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH HER????? Still don’t understand the exact motives behind murdering Bunny either.

Felt a little uneasy about the portrayal of Francis’ homosexuality, but I can’t put my finger on it. Not necessarily a critique of the elite institution, which is what the book has the potential to be. Definitely more focused on the aesthetic. It had its bright moments, but overall I was dissapointed by this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Physical abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Classism, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Infidelity

uhm_kai's review against another edition

challenging 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

2.5

it was wordy & descriptive which i enjoyed, but it was so pretentious and took so long to build up to actual tension - and then it was weird with unnecessary incest and a 'bury your gays' type thing...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

jelliestars's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, Racism, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Blood, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexism, Animal death, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Medical content, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Antisemitism, and Car accident

Minor: Eating disorder, Excrement, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping

esme_may's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

My deep hatred of

Spoiler

Bunny

knows no bounds. I knew it would be good but no one told me it would be Like This

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Violence, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Ableism, Incest, Mental illness, Antisemitism, Car accident, Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, and Blood

Minor: Cancer, Kidnapping, Outing, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

rory_john14's review against another edition

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

clxrxdxvxs'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