Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Secret History, by Donna Tartt

96 reviews

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

2.0

The OG dark academia book: basically Pretty Little Liars meets Rope but for nerds who like Dante 2🏺

Really disappointed this book didn’t live up to the hype: pacing was way too slow - like just get to the murder already. 

Tbh PLL did it better and the play/Hitchcock film Rope is a way better version of this story in terms of suspense, pacing and exploring themes of ethics, academia, eruditeness, class and queerness.

NB the audiobook I listed to narrated by the author herself gave the most annoying voice to Bunny: he sounded like that little bitch in the Polar Express and so I wasn’t even sad when he was killed. 

Also I found the main 6 characters so detestable I was indifferent to their

Spoiler

murders and suffering from trying to evade their crimes.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Murder, Incest, Classism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, and Racism

soots's review against another edition

dark 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

I really wanted to like it, truly, but it was so boring from the protagonist's perspective (the book is written in 1st person's pov). The whole book itself felt pretentious, if that can ever happen. None of the characters were likeable, and much of the dialogues and narratives had content and mentions of topics that definitely needed trigger warnings, some of which weren't even necessary to the narrative. There was very little plot progression, safe for one plot twist in the end that got me confused and irritated. Finishing the book left me wondering why I actually did not listen to my own advice to stop this reading this book when I was at page 85. There are much better books than this that does exactly what this book was trying to do. The writing was lovely, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Rape

andreadelo's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Antisemitism, Vomit, Addiction, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, Alcoholism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Outing, Medical trauma, Injury/injury detail, Incest, Grief, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation

rebecca_mdx'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

4.75

This book is NOT the way I saw it promoted on BookTok at all (IDK maybe I'm just on the wrong side of it). It definitely puts the "dark" in dark academia, and anyone who says Henry Winters is hot needs serious help.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Classism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Cursing

Moderate: Mental illness, Drug use, Drug abuse, Incest, and Sexual assault

Minor: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Homophobia

avciera7's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Xenophobia, Incest, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

_sarahramadan's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Racism, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Murder, and Drug use

Moderate: Murder and Incest

rae_diant's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Incest, Suicide, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Xenophobia, Addiction, Islamophobia, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Homophobia, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Gaslighting

livermorium's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Classism, Incest, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Antisemitism, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Suicide

cgm42's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I get why people reference this book and it is funny in its bananas and arrogance but its not life changing. This is one of those books that inspired a lot so you've seen its influence in others writing, as well as tv & movies. Because of that, it might have lost its shine on me and didn't grip me as it has many others, since I personally feel that people have built on the dark academia in dare I say, better ways. I think if I read this in high school or college it would have been mind blowing but I was knee deep in Anne Rice & whatever political thriller my dad sent my way during the 90s so my attention was elsewhere. 

Also that funeral scene dragged for what felt was soooo long that even the absurdity of it all wasn't compelling, could have done without it but alas small gripe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Murder

freyaboobac's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

It is wonderfully ironic that this book has become a staple of dark academia when it is itself a critique of the culture and aesthetic of dark academia. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Drug use, Death, Classism, Incest, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Racism, Homophobia, and Grief