Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

510 reviews

goldbs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0


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gotnobusinesspraying's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

the narrator being unreliable really adds to the personal interpretations. the bacchanal and Richard not being there adds another layer to the lack of reliability in any of the characters take on what happens 

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hxdfn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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madalina0_0's review against another edition

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

4.5


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jellyparfum's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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elizajaquays's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25


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the_neeerd's review against another edition

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dark funny 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? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is my favorite book because everyone in it sucks so bad. not a single character makes a good choice. and then they all make each other worse. If you take this book seriously, you're missing the point. 

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roaming_enn's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.75

Does such a thing as "the fatal flaw," that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside of literature? It used to think it didn't. Now I think it does. And I think mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.

Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. And what could be more terrifying and beautiful, to souls like t he Greeks or our own, than to lose control completely? To throw off the chains of being for an instant, to shatter the accident of our mortal selves?

Summary:
This book is about a bunch of Ancient Greek undergraduate students and that time they murdered one of their classmates. The one who dies is revealed in the beginning, and it is the HOW they get there that's the real story. The story is told in first-person through Richard Papen's POV, a newest Greek student that the professor accepts, newest member of the group that had been together for longer. He is writing just under a decade after the events of the book. 

Thoughts:
I love how academic it was, and it feels like a book written by an academic (which it was) for other academics. The author doesn't hold your hand, assuming you're smart enough to follow the story with what she gives you. There was at least one scene that I thought was entirely unnecessary for the Islamophobia it spewed, and I'm still not sure why it was included. The ending was a little disappointing because I wanted things to be a particular way but they ended up not. I wish it had been more than just a handful of years later when the story is told, rather than Richard still being a young man. But in either case, a lot of people seem to hate this book. I loved it. I don't love the characters, but I found them, and the story, REALLY compelling. And for me, that makes up for not loving the characters. 

Be sure to check all the content warnings. I tried to include as many as I could think of in this review. 

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brennerson's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is actually haunting me, and it’s all I can think about. I loved learning about these characters from the POV of Richard (but I desperately need Camilla’s POV) because I also felt like I was trying to make it in the group as an outsider. Trying to figure out the subtle glances or dialogue between characters reminded me of meeting a group of very close people for the first time and not fully understanding their relationships but still being mesmerized by them.

But if you want loveable, sweet characters, and a reliable narrator, this is not the book! 

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I loved The Goldfinch and was expecting to love this one too, but instead, I’m unclear why this book was such a big deal. The whole time, I keep wondering if this book inspired Shonda Rhimes into How to Get Away with Murder, and like that TV show, I hated the premise of the plot and still watched every episode and read every page, and in the end, all I am left is to wonder why I did.

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