Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

436 reviews

liss_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

The longest confession I’ve ever read. I can’t say this book is good… but it’s also not bad? This story will stick with me in a distant memory kind of way 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Islamophobia

mimidelrey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

My favourite book ever, everyone must read at least once.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Eating disorder, and Rape

janienejulia's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Rape

figgy24_20's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

This is art. A picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes a few thousand words can say even more than I thought possible. I was carried along by the stream of this story in a way I haven’t been for years. I couldn’t predict her at any turn, yet nothing fell out of place; everything happened as it could only have happened. I marvel at the genius of authorship. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Islamophobia and Car accident

itsdoroo's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Medical content

Minor: Fatphobia, Racial slurs, and Rape

maddyisreading23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Se volete un libro che vi accompagni durante le vostre serali invernali e autunnali, questo libro è perfetto per voi. 
Il libro è narrato in prima persona da uno dei protagonisti di questa storia; un ragazzo semplice, con un background familiare complicato che si ritrova in un college esclusivo. Riuscito a entrare nell'esclusivissima classe di greco del professor Julian, si trova immerso in un altro universo insieme ad altri cinque strani individui. 
Durante le lezioni del professor Julian, il quale non permette ai propri studenti di seguire altri corsi oltre al suo, i ragazzi vivono nell'antichità del mondo greco e sono così immersi che applicano questo stile di vita anche all'esterno, creando un gruppo esclusivo molto particolare, completamente ignaro del mondo esterno. 
Quando, a distruggere la loro bolla, arriverà un evento drammatico, tutta questa tranquillità si romperà e il gruppo sarà sottoposto a prove durissime. 
Come reagiranno questi ragazzi agiati, senza grandi preoccupazioni, immersi nella loro illusione di vivere in un mondo classico, alla tragica piega che prenderà la loro vita? 
Riusciranno a mantenere il loro aplombe anche in una situazione alquanto critica? 

Ho trovato questo libro molto avvincente, sebbene il ritmo del libro sia lento, a tratti anche troppo. è interessante seguire la vita di questi ragazzi poiché essi sono completamente estranei ai fatti del mondo esterno e vivono invece nel loro paradiso classico. Quando però si trovano a dover affrontare la realtà si trovano in una situazione di estrema difficoltà. 
Leggere la storia dal punto di vista di uno dei protagonisti è molto interessante; Richard è infatti, tra tutti, la persona che è meno annebbiata dall'illusione e vive nel mondo reale. 

L'unica nota che avrei da fare è che in alcuni momenti il ritmo era veramente lento, soprattutto dopo l'evento che rompe l'equilibrio, intere pagine vengono dedicate e dettagli inutili che allungano la lettura inutilmente, considerando che il libro di per sé ha 600 pagine. 
Per il resto l'ho trovata una lettura avvincente, oscura e misteriosa. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Incest, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Blood

jcoop2230's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

Cerebral, clunky, tiresome…  unnecessarily lengthy. I wanted to keep going just because it was described as a thriller and mystery and I kept waiting for something to happen or for the mystery to be revealed but it never did.. confused as to how it is classified as such. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

wuhys's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

The amount of people who say this book is uneffective and that it just ends up romanticising what it was criticising is insane. It's stupidly good at what it does... it made me sick to my stomach multiple times (therefore it is brilliant).  Plus Tartt makes 600 pages feel like 50, it reads that well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Racial slurs, and Racism

yooya15's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

This books is an onion with iron layers — there’s so much to unpack in every line, every scene. I don’t think 5 rereads would be enough to understand the full depth of these characters, just as it’s not enough to understand the full depth of any person in the flesh. It was surprisingly satirical, but in a way where I sometimes felt like I was going to hell for laughing. Donna really did the damn thing!

I think it’s a 5 star quality book, but wildly uncomfortable read for its content (it reads like a modern Greek tragedy, ha). Just look at the content warnings to see what I mean!! My feelings can’t be squashed into a star rating, so I’m leaving it blank :D

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Islamophobia, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Forced institutionalization

flightlessbiird's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

what a ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship