Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Der kleine Freund by Donna Tartt

11 reviews

rinnavv's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Tough read due to how heavy it was both mentally and physically (a lot of words on a LOT of pages lol). Loved everything about this though. Will miss the characters dearly :')

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol

_david_'s review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

This book put me in a reading slump. I'm relieved to finally have finished it. There were great moments in it, but it was so tough to get through. All the long descriptions and show of characters numbed the impact of the good parts.

I ended up skim-reading large parts of the book and reading chapter summaries to check if I read everything important. 

If you're considering dropping the book because you don't like the writing style and a few characters, definitely do drop it. If you're still pusing through because you're trying to figure out the mystery, drop the book. It's an unsatisfying end for most.

I personally kept reading because I wanted to know what happened to Harriet herself and the Ratliffs. Besides that, I found the exploration of grief in the family interesting, but it became much less in the Harriet-focused part of the book. I don't regret finishing the book, but I definitely don't recommend picking it up. There's better books out there about stereotypical Southern USA.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Vomit, Medical content, and Abandonment

Tw: Drowning

rowanelisa's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

nicolaparty's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction and Racism

Minor: Self harm, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

kari_t's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.0

I can't say loudly enough how much I love Donna Tartt's superior writing ability. Truly next level and unlike literally any author I have ever read. But, unfortunately, the problems I had with this book outweighted the enjoyment.

First: The constant flow of disturbing events and misery. Just a parade of depression: animal abuse, animal death, animal neglect, child abuse, child death, child neglect, racism, drug abuse, meth dealers, white supremacy...and on and on. It just didn't matter to me anymore how well Tartt could write. I just got SO sick and tired of all the awful everything of EVERYONE's life in this small town. 

Second: Not a thriller. After reading (and loving) The Goldfinch and The Secret History by Tartt, I was particularly excited to pick up The Little Friend, seeing it slotted as "Mystery/Thriller" and "Psychological Thriller". It is neither. The blurb proclaims things like "...Harriet...sets out to unmask (her brother's) killer" and "Filled with hairpin turns of plot...". Meh. While true Harriet tries for a time to determine the killer, as a pre-teem might do, she decides quickly who to blame. Then it's all about how she'll try to get revenge or justice. Most of the book is just atmospheric description (albeit brilliantly written) but there is not much going on from page to page. There are scenes of action and suspense at some times, but overall, no...this is not a mystery/thriller. 

And so, I'm being generous with 3-stars because of Tartt's writing. But the deeply dreary and subject matter and violence on every...single...page, and the ambling, pointless arc of the plot was a 1-star.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Incest

johnclough's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

petrichorandcoffee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A compelling, painful, dark, beautifully written, unpredictable book. I am very glad I read it. There were some points in the book where I felt upset by racist language used, but I realized as the book progressed that we (readers) are meant to be upset by it and to see it as commentary on the time and place. It is not quite as resolved at the end as I personally would have liked - but that serves the story well so I don't mind. This is a story about loss, pain, growth, inherited trauma, structural classicism, structural racism, childhood, grief, dreams, and family. I would say it is southern gothic despite the fact that is lacks the supernatural/magical realism I feel is required for that genre because the text feels haunted and in the service of ghosts despite their lack of presence in the story itself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gdgm00's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Absolutely gorgeous writing with nothing but clear images along the way. This book takes you on a journey whether or not you are ready and it is worth every page. Heartbreaking, stunning, shocking and too good to put down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Medical content, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

ellensmith's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

2.75

This book could be taken up to somewhere in the 3 star range or as low as a straight 2 star. I tried to average it out and marked it as 2.75. This book seemed to lose the plot at some parts, only to never pick it up again. I did really enjoy the discussions about class and race in the southern town. Tartt's writing makes you feel like you are truly in the place and watching the discussion happen. I just cannot justify the beauty of the setting for the actual plot of the novel. It would be a good book to fall asleep to I think. Also! Who the heck killed Robin?

I really do not think it was Danny. Maybe Pem or Pharish. Who knows. Maybe even Alison killed him.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bri_fabiano's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, and Stalking