Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

314 reviews

karenclare's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Murder

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Incest and Panic attacks/disorders

hxdfn's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

madalina0_0's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emily_p1's review against another edition

dark mysterious relaxing 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

ettegoom's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.0

I don't know what it is about American novels as a genre, but they all seem to have truly terrible humans in them.  I couldn't decide whether I wanted things to work out for everyone in the end, or for them to all end up dead/incarcerated. 

The story is a complete train wreck from start to finish.  The characters are a bunch of 'poor little rich kids' joined by the narrator, a scholarship student, who manages to join the group, yet remains an outsider whilst still being intimately involved in trying to protect the group. 

A friend saw me reading this, and asked if a review that she'd seen entitled "what the hell Richard" was correct.  Yes it's correct, but I'm still not entirely sure what the reviewer was referring to, because there are so many what the heck? moments for every character, that is hard to single out any particular moment that could have triggered the reviewer's response

The writing is compelling and I read the book over about three days where I struggled to put it down.  I don't know whether I enjoyed it per se, but I most certainly wanted to know what was going to happen next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

the_neeerd's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, and Grief

krytykesa's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I wonder how she managed to create all the reasons for the reader to hate each character, yet by the end, you find a way to care about them. 

I don't understand the criticism. I read in some reviews that outside of Henry and the main characters, others felt plain. Camilla was the only one who I didn't get at all. 

And Francis, baby, I'll always care for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia and Violence

Minor: Suicide attempt

lindsfindley's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Islamophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

I

faithemt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

full review can be found here: 
Highly literary; quite intellectual yet dark; very slow paced.  Characters drove me nuts. I mean come on already!!

https://goldintheclouds-faith.blogspot.com/2024/07/2024-book-review-30the-secret-history.html

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

fkshg8465's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism