Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Die geheime Geschichte by Donna Tartt

662 reviews

dzejkopol's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ellagrady's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

I found it slow to start and questionable in the way certain topics were handled in the first part, almost DNFing because of it, not sure if it was a product of its time or making a point. I’m glad I stuck it out as about halfway through I was gripped, flying through it, fascinated by the moral fights the characters were balancing as the story progressed and the greatness of the spaces they navigated. It’s a tough read, so definitely one to be careful about, but something I couldn’t put down was I was invested. This isn’t a trope I typically gravitate towards, but I felt like I had to know what the hype was the book, maybe I fell into a similar hive mind the book follows. I will say I found the characters fascinating, though they were all deeply unlikable, but I think that’s what makes them so fascinating, they seemed very human and real even if they were often terrible. It felt a little long at times, some of the chapters went on unnecessarily, but Tarty’s writing kept me hooked and enthralled, feeling like I was right there alongside the characters, so she clearly knew what she was doing. 

I think the story did everything it was meant to, giving a satirical look at the wealthy academics at the liberal arts New England colleges, understanding the dynamics of the group, and turning the situation on its head to show how ridiculous these types of students can be. I wish it had more views than just Richard’s to get a better idea of what was really going on, but I do see the point of limiting it to just his rose-tinted, unreliable, and romanticized telling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

anna_pardo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

Bé, aquí hi ha molta tela a tallar i comentar!

El centraré en els personatges, que són fascinants i odiosos a la vegada. Perversos, egoistes, pedants, manipuladors i fatxendes. Grisos. Així que m'ha encantat detestar-los 😅 Sens dubte són, juntament amb l'ambientació, el punt fort de la novel·la.

Sobre la trama, diré que han passat 30 anys des de que es va escriure i a ulls d'ara no és res sorprenent ni novedós, malgrat la foscor i la perversió del que s'hi explica. Entenc que fascinés a un nínxol molt concret en el seu moment, però no entenc aquest revival que està visquent la novel·la ni que sigui el millor llibre en la vida de ningú.

Sigui com sigui m'ha tingut completament absorbida, està molt ben escrit i té molta mandanga que fa de bon comentar. I oh, com els he detestat a tots!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Classism

nenac0's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual violence

carriereads81's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Suicide attempt

sksrenninger'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

4.0

 

• I’ve never read Lord of the Flies, and now I feel like I might be missing some allusions. They both kill a guy with an animal name. Luckily, I *have read Gatsby. The American dream, everyone! It always ends in someone being in love with someone they can’t be with, and dead people. And apparently it doesn’t pay to be rich.
• I really love when I’m reading a book I enjoy and I look up after reading for a while to discover I still have 200 pages to go. That is… sort of this book. I enjoyed it, but at about the halfway point I skimmed the rest of the book because I lost patience. I still finished it for real, but it’s slow. It’s not the murder mystery / psychological thriller it sometimes gets billed as. 
• I really enjoyed the voice in this book, because it’s very authentic; it doesn’t waver. There were tons of words I didn’t know, which 1) I love in general and 2) I especially enjoyed since apparently Richard earns a phd in English by the time he starts writing. 
• Why does it feel like secret code every time someone addresses the narrator directly as Richard? It’s like they’re breaking the fourth wall.  
• “Do not fear. It is the mother. She is concerned with the dishonor of the son having to do with wine.” Did she try to translate this into Ancient Greek first? There is talk among the citizens!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape

madismurdermysteries's review against another edition

dark tense 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

4.5

I’m finding it difficult to rate this book. Really more than anything else, I rated it so high because the writing itself is so stunning, much more so than the actual plot. I couldn’t put the book down a lot of the time, but I couldn’t even figure out why.

I was almost expecting some sort of magical element, or a BIG TWIST that just never came, which rather disappointed me…

that said it really was a fascinating read, and she really captured the complete unraveling of these characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Incest and Vomit

midnightstory's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Antisemitism

egglanor's review against another edition

4.0

I am left speechless. This book began haunting my dreams. The descriptive writing is beautifully done, and the plot complex, captivating, and harrowing. The opening mystery is mostly revealed by about halfway through the book, and I wondered what could possibly develop from then onwards (since that mystery had been til then sustaining the fast pace of the book), but things sure do develop, and you start to wonder how you ever thought any of it could be reasonable, or how you didn't see certain things before. I was so immersed in this story that I genuinely forgot you can't smoke indoors anymore because so many of the characters constantly have cigarette in hand. Anyway, what the fuck, and, go read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicide, Violence, and Toxic friendship

sullivan_reader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.5

Oddly enough, this feels more like a character study, but where all of the characters are unlikable. And yet, I was still intrigued to see what happens next. Honestly, my favorite character was the cat that shit in the car cause ya they all deserved it. Idk how people like them. For example, they're all murderers. Richard really doesn't care until it's slapping him in the face with the fact that someone's death affects other people, too. Oh and that paragraph where he wanted to

rape

Camilla, like what a bustard. 
 Henry was a cold hearted, manipulative, son of a bitch. Charles was

abusive

.
 Camilla couldn't handle being friends with other girls. 
Bunny was racist, homophobic, classist (though they all were), and sexist, to name a few. And there's the theory that Richard exaggerated his bad traits, but personally, I think it shows that people can be terrible, but they still don't deserve to die. 
I disliked Francis least of all cause his biggest faults were not being independent enough to voice his own opinions and literally go along with double homicide cause everyone else is too. 
Then there's Julian. In my opinion, Julian created and fostered the environment where actions like these were acceptable, and their excuses were justified because of class and intellectualism. But when the consequences of his actions were staring him in the face, he fled cause he didn't want to be associated with it. Which explains why they felt so betrayed. It's like when an adult tells a kid if they tell the truth they won't get mad, then they get mad when they hear it. 


Anyway, love the aesthetic, hate the classism and characters. They hated each other too, they’r  preverse sense of superiority is the onlt thing tying them together. And I'm not mad Henry did what he did cause I feel like he fancied himself a hero in a Greek tragedy and that's how their story would end.

Oh and the writing was absolutely gorgeous! But it took a long time to be able to sink my teeth into it like other novels. That's not a bad thing though, it made me sit with the book and digest it longer which was most beneficial.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide