Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Der kleine Freund by Donna Tartt

22 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

yleavy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

2.25

The novel is very atmospheric, but ultimately an unsatisfying slog that did not need to be told in 620+ pages.

I’ve always been unsettled by how Tartt writes POC, and The Little Friend is no different (maybe worse). This book finally convinced me to never read another of her novels. 

Also, how many times can one write “there was a stunned silence” or “there was a confused pause” in one book? A lot, apparently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and 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

lynix's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

I usually love Donna Tart but except for the last two chapters this book bored me half to death. 
I was hoping for a somewhat conclusive ending but so many questions were left unanswered, like who killed Robin, who gave that girl the gloves and what they were doing with the snakes in the first place. also all of the characters annoyed me more and more throughout the book, though I guess that's somewhat the point. 
sorry but this one wasn't my cup of tea at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, and Murder

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

cosmopsis's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Racism, and Car accident

Minor: Cancer

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

beanqueen_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Drags on, there is a lot of unnecessary slurs. Love how descriptive the writing was, and the story was interesting but I wasn't super captivated or invested in the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, and Racial slurs

jelliestars's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and War

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