Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

299 reviews

helhas3letters's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

1.75

Never have I read about a group of people so pretentious yet so vapid, so snobbish yet so thick, so self-involved yet so empty, so exhausting yet so inexcusably BORING.

Not a single one of these characters is likeable (perhaps maybe Georges LaForgue), so I just did not care one bit about what happened to them. And what on earth is with everyone

being utterly obsessed with and casually kissing Camilla?!? This woman is apparently a prop for everyone else to project their desires onto.

An awful lot of male gaze for a book written by a woman.

In terms of the plot, it’s incredibly repetitive and moves frustratingly slowly. Aside from the two or three main events that take place in this story, there is just far too much waiting around, moving back and forth between locations, and nothing happening for my liking. I honestly don’t understand the point of large chunks of this novel, nor certain characters who do not affect the story or world whatsoever.

I thought the ending was pretty bizarre too. Why did it become a

“where are they now”? And why does it include the most random characters?! Including the cat we were introduced to about 20 pages ago?!? To be fair, I cared more about that cat than I did most of the main characters, but still. A strange choice.

Some people love this book but for me, I can’t help but feel it was a massive waste of time. I kept hoping it would get better, but for 600 pages, it never did. I persisted past where it would have been sensible to give up and in the future, I will trust my DNF instincts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Death of parent, Outing, and Classism

splashcat360's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Outing

atalea's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

acmayn01's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, and Sexual content

ambivalentneb's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.75

I have conflicting feelings, I usually prefer more metaphysical or ponderous books but The Secret History is more of following events in real time in dialogue with little introspection. It is my own taste but I feel like without the introspection and thoughts of characters the impact of the book and moral is diminished. This is my opinion immediately after finishing though, it may change.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

sonda_says's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-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

2.5

When a book has been hyped up this much, both in the Tumblr Hall of Fame and the Forever Pinboard of Dark Academia, it is close to impossible for your reading experience to measure up to the hype.
 

However, even with the title of cult classics stripped away, it fell short as a novel. Content and plot are overridden by pages and pages of consequential scenes hidden behind paragraphs of rather insufferable characters frolicking. With Camilla feeling incredibly underdeveloped.
 

As the female protagonist in the book, she seemed to only exist for the men to project their heterosexuality onto. She had no purpose and 
  no agency that wasn't her hair fluttering attractively in the wind or the way her eyes looked when they caught a glint of sunlight. As well as her affections to be a source of conflict for the male characters who were all allowed to endeavor to greater things. But even those moments that were set into action by them. Moments of conflict and murder and plotting mystery were described by such a drab character, unmoved by almost anything, that it becomes impossible to spark the expected interest from the person reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal cruelty

sunlitridges's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

My rating for this one keeps getting higher and higher bc while it didn't originally seem spectacular to me, I find myself thinking about it in my spare time immediately started re-reading to see if I can pick up on any details I previously missed. Also wonderful descriptions from the author. I'll likely read of few times 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Stalking

abigailhaagen's review

dark mysterious

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Story was incredibly well-told, the characters very fleshed-out, and I was engrossed and read almost 400 pages in one day. However, it also romanticized a lot of unhealthy behaviors, which probably wasn't great for me mentally (no, Abigail, you can't return to college to study Ancient Greek while drinking bourbon and smoking cigars

and plotting murders

smh)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Antisemitism

emilysacharow's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Vomit, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, and Drug abuse

schneehutte's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

After letting the book sit on my bookshelf for almost one year and a half, I've finally come to read it. And boy, I don't regret a thing!

The writing style from Donna Tartt was a surprise for good. Although it makes sense that a book about Classics students would have a particular style of writing itself - "literary" writing, so to speak - it wasn't tiring or repetitive to read. I appreciated the author's attention to detail and visuals in this book, and you can see each character's mannerisms through the writing. I am not sure if it was intentional, but I loved the parallels to Dostoevsky's work. I would describe "The Secret History" as a modern retelling - with sparkles of dark academia tropes - of "Crime and Punishment", which sounds like the exact thing I would enjoy. Therefore I am not surprised to rate this book so high on my list. 

I suppose I can understand the disappointment of the people who expected a murder mystery out of this book - so I am here to tell you now: it really isn't. The murder is revealed in the prologue, and it becomes quite clear who has done it as the pages go by. Besides, I believe it was the author's intention to portray all the characters in the group as being to some extent responsible for the murder, as it is their shared guilt that haunts them and leads them to their downfall (Crime and Punishment vibes!).

The characters aren't lovable, nor they are meant to be. I kept in mind that this whole story was told from the perspective of the main character Richard, who acted for the most part almost like a bystander in many events of the book. Therefore I would assume that his vision of many characters such as Camilla, Henry, Julian, and many more, is completely romanticized and inaccurate. But I believe that only comes to show how unlikable in "real life" Richard truly is, and how he fits with the rest of the group by being just as arrogant as everyone else - despite coming from humbler origins.

However, the scene where he wants to hurt - even rape - Camilla surprised me how low he was. I am not sure it fits entirely his character and I must confess, I had to read that passage a couple of times...

I thought the pacing hurt the overall progression a little. Despite liking slow-paced books, some passages were daunting to read and it was difficult to keep up with the motivation. But when it ramps up, then it ramps up - and you have no idea where the book is going, which adds more and more to the mysterious aspect that surrounds the characters around Richard (especially Henry). Almost all the characters - even not-so-important ones such as Judy - had strong personalities and I liked reading about them. 

The ending was somewhat satisfying, but I don't think there is much to add to this. A story this dark and creepy couldn't have a positive ending without sounding strange - so I am glad it decided to take a "middle-ground" route, so to speak.

What I would have enjoyed seeing more was the ritual that Henry, Camilla, Francis, and Charles did, which resulted in the death of the first man. I think the exploration of "losing control of yourself" could have been more interesting as just saying "yeah we kinda did that" and having just a monologue about it.

Despite referencing Greek myths and literature, it is not necessary to have much knowledge of them to understand the story, which is good. I'm on break right now, do you think I want to spend my time doing supplementary reading?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, and Blood

Not sure if the whole incest subplot was necessary but oh well