Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

1954 reviews

violetdisposition's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

This book started out pretty slow but there were enough odd details woven into the elaborately detailed yet rather mundane descriptions of daily life at a liberal arts college to keep me engaged - once things slowly started to reveal themselves, I was eager to see how all of the threads would come together. Even now, I think I would need to reread the book in order to truly capture all of the details and foreshadowing left in each scene. I don't know if I would say I particularly *liked* the main cast of characters - but they had such a charm to them that I was curious to know them better. The narrator is clearly unreliable, and even says so himself, which is my favorite type of narrator - we KNOW he is romanticizing his past and was even romanticizing it when he was living in the moment, and yet his narration is all we have with which to piece the true story together. I would be remiss to mention this book is (over)written with achingly pretentious and flowery language, but I am known to love this type of writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

xsancia's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, and Rape

madisonjewellyoung's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

📖🔎📝🩸🏫🚪⚖️🌲

A fascinating read, no doubt. The writing style was interesting and at times caught my attention completely while at other times lost me. Looking back on the book as a whole, however, I find to appreciate it more through and through.

The characters!!! That was what kept me reading from start to finish. Deeply intriguing to read a book from the perspective of someone who sees themselves as a side character of their own recounted experience. Leaning away from spoilers : here is each character depicted in emojis.

🪰🔎🥸🕳️🔒🚪
🦊🧱🚘🪩🍾💔
🐰💸🌫️🎙️👩🏼🫵🏻
🐻💵📜📚📞🪨
🐺👫🏼🥃⛓️‍💥🤝🏻💊
🦌🪽🩸🫧 🥀🤍
🐙💓💃🏻🪩🥂👋🏻

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Homophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Incest

l4uraliest's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Wayyyy too fucking long, could have been half the pages
Incredibly boring
chapters way too long

I liked the friendship ig, but Henry was the only thing that held them together, also both murders seem to be the only reason for the close friendship
Why is Camilla only a romantic interest? No real personality? Still ig my favourite character (Also Francis was fine)
Don‘t really get why Henry offed himself?? Why not let Charles take the fall for what he did? 
TF WAS WITH THE INCEST 
TF WAS WITH THE „I want to rape her“ i mean, what is wrong with you? why are you THIS obsessed???? 
So much romanticising: Henry with the murder, of each character basically -  Charles was my fave at first ???? HOW
- Julian was also fine but why doesn’t he have any friends his own age?? and why are his students his only personality?? 
why tf was the beginning SO LONG and the end so short?????
also WHY WAS BASICALLY HENRY THE ONLY ONE ON CAMILLAS SIDE AFTER CHARLES ABUSED HER

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, and Toxic friendship

ellie_dirthag's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

2.75

That was so many pages for all that? Girl... Like I think I understand what the author's point was and what she was trying to accomplish, and she did it well, I just didn't find it interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

The triggers make this sound like such a more interesting book than it was

madsreadsbooks17's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Suicide, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Gore, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

samanthaleereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Medical content and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Vomit

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

whoisrois's review against another edition

dark funny tense slow-paced

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

4.5

never smoked in my life but this book had me craving cigarettes and a cocktail 🍸 🚬🚬🚬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, and Medical content

alinawag's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• 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, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, and Islamophobia