Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Der kleine Freund by Donna Tartt

23 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

af666014's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.5

There are some great themes to this book, but I found the ending wholly unsatisfying and it moved too slowly for my taste. Not my favorite of Tartt’s

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, and Murder

kaaaaaaaaaaate's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I cannot compare the little friend to Donna Tart’s other books because I haven’t read them yet- this i did purposely after hearing so many disappointed opinions of this book- something I cannot attest to. I thoroughly ENJOYED the little friend, a beautiful southern gothic cross buildensroman cross mystery/thriller. I found Harriet and her family to be both engaging and fantastical but also very real and full of substance. Whilst the overall book is pretty slow the last 100 pages were fast and easy to devour but I didn’t feel rushed in comparison. The relationships people share with each other and how these relationships change through grief, life experience and tragedy were pivotal aspects of the characters that Tartt explored both delicately but also with a raw and sharp realism that at times was hard to swallow. This honestly just makes me excited to read her other books and enjoy them as much if not more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, and 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

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

nitaya's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

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

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