Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

324 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

songofachilleus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Incest, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual content

bgmylc's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Homophobia

1800_sera_'s review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

3.5

That was crazy jesus

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Classism

miamckell's review against another edition

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

3.25

I was sure I would love this book after reading Tartt's "The Little Friend", but I found myself surprised that this remains the more popular of the two novels. I take no issue with her Dickensian writing style, and have certainly fallen in love with her voice, but I felt much less connected to the characters by the end of this book than when I started. I felt it took on a more impersonal tone in the last 200 pages or so, thus I had trouble remaining immersed in the world and its players. I chalked it up to Richard (the protagonist) being an intentional "bystander" character; and chose to view it as a stylistic choice to get through it; but typically if I'm committing to this long of a story I want to feel I'm growing more attached to it rather than pushed out of it. I still think it's worth the read. She truly is a brilliant storyteller, but perhaps (being from the South and not raised in the 1990's) I had more trouble connecting to this gloomy, North East winter of a tale as opposed to "The Little Friend", and was confused to why it is so well-reviewed in comparison. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

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

wooblatoober's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

WOW!! it was surely a difficult read for me (it took me 2 months) but it was so worth it & i’m so glad my friend made me read it. there are so few books (or authors!!) out there that are so good at leaving me with questions that DON’T MAKE ME ANGRY!! idk what her method is but tartt’s ability to make you wonder & theorize has landed this novel a cult following, because when you’re done reading, all you wanna do is TALK ABOUT IT!! you want to discuss theories with your friends, or what they thought of each character, or watch several 3-hour-long video essays while you clean your room, or follow the tsh reddit page. it gets in your head, partly because it SEEMS SO REAL! characters don’t make moral decisions, but it feels like you’re there and living this story, so not only do you understand why they’re making their decisions—sometimes they seem like the only option. details are included as literary devices, but they also just serve to make the story more realistic. & don’t get me started on the characters. judy poovey is quite possibly the only likeable character in all 628 pages (which is by design, as she seems to serve as a tether to reality in ways), & yet i REALLY LIKE most of the characters despite having flaws that would usually make you HATE someone. i’ve never liked (or enjoyed in any book, for that matter) unlikeable characters at all, let alone this much before. i said it was a difficult read, but i really appreciate its length—apparently, tartt cut out a good portion of tsh before publishing, & thinking about what she might have gotten rid of keeps me up at night. tartt’s literary tools are so well-used, i feel like i can truly analyze this book & its literary devices like im in school again, & it’s so much fun!!

i think i enjoyed reading each character so much because of their complexities, paired with richard’s very limited point of view—one that he (and the reader) doesn’t always realize is so limited. in fact, he doesn’t really every get to have all the information at any one time, illustrated by the hundreds of fan theories from people who have exactly the same amount of information that richard has. so you’re left to unravel characters’ motives and actions with the same amount of information richard has—again, not a lot—& left to understand only what he understands. tartt also doesn’t leave any loose ends—every detail it’s important, & serves to make the story seem more realistic. these things makes it more immersive—like the reader is living it, or hearing a story about a friend, someone they know, something that actually happened that the reader is helping to try to get to the bottom of. it involves the reader in a marvelous way. & this stupid fucking book has me saying prick ass words like ‘marvelous’

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Minor: Rape, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Outing

harlshm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

Pretty good overall, feels like a book you have to read.

Slow around the two major plot points. A frustration being that everything was wrote in great detail and when you get to important parts of the plot, the character couldn’t remember or had blanked it out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest

orangebeanreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A slow burn type read, the constant stress of the characters is palpable- making it feel as though you MUST read more just to ease the tension. But that release never really comes. Some uncomfortable topics that are employed very intentionally by the author, and when paired with her writing style give the entire book a sense of fantasy despite taking place grounded in the real world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment