Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Der kleine Freund by Donna Tartt

59 reviews

charmarie's review against another edition

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

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

3.0

portions of the book not narrated by Harriet drag by very slowly

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual content and Violence

_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

lykida's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

hjb_128's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Abandonment

alicekd's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, and Murder

rzh's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism

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

flo_sg's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Racism, and Murder

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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? No

5.0

This was a gritty coming of age story clouded in grief and mystery. It provided an in depth look at privilege and racism in the 1960’s.  Harriet was an interesting, unique character who, despite never knowing him, was desperate to solve her brother's murder.  This is shown several times through the book in different ways.  It shows that grief doesn’t come only from death, but growing up in the shadow of someone else. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse