Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

147 reviews

ashley_turch's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I wish every book I read was like this. Perfectly atmospheric, academic but not too difficult to understand, left enough to the imagination to leave you thinking about it for a long time afterward. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Incest, and Car accident

Minor: Child abuse, Car accident, and Death of parent

Most trigger warnings apply. Warning for animal lovers: animal cruelty is mentioned and discussed by the characters — but we do not “see” it happen. Watch out around page ~230 (digital version — otherwise in Chapter 5 near the discussion of mushrooms) for the most heinous description, in my opinion. Easy to skip over the paragraph and pretend it didn’t happen, although it is very briefly referred to later in the book.

be_emvi_ous's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

bored_and_confused's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, and Antisemitism

angay_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Homophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty, Incest, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

prxphtic's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

what the fuck did i just read (positive) but also what the fuck did i just read (derogatory)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

jetski's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

Generally a good read, a little wordy though the use of language is pleasant. I liked that the students are smart but flawed and not good at everything. Yet, the skills that they were taught seemed pretentious in the way they are regarded to be sooo extraordinary, but basically you just hear them have basic discussions on grammar and fundamental philosophical principles… not that crazy tbh. Also, I felt like the character of Julian was a little empty. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Misogyny

cordelio's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bzappas's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Drug use, Incest, Sexual content, and Suicide

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

sdloomer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

I believe I distinctly enjoyed the first half of the book

before the murder

more than the second

after the murder

, even though I completely understand the necessity of describing the aftermath and spiral of the players. But that isn't to say I didn't enjoy the latter half at all. I thought about this book constantly when I wasn't reading it, and within a couple of days, it shot to being one of my favorite reads this year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexism

Minor: Incest and Self harm