Reviews tagging 'Outing'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

43 reviews

alastorthewerewolf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Holy f*cking sh*t this book has decided to change my whole life goals

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, and Classism

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

abigailhaagen's review against another edition

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

thebookfae's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Incest, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Misogyny, Grief, and Outing

l0veth1ng's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

such a compelling read, even though i struggled to really get into it until the 100 page mark. enjoyed this SO much

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Incest and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Rape and Outing

_jacket_oil_'s review against another edition

dark 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

2.25

Maybe I was just sold this book wrong but I thought it was going to be a critique of academia and how highly some people feel themselves to be above others. Which in some respects maybe I can see but also at the end of the day they are rich kids who get away with whatever they want. Also they way social topics are discussed I don’t think is done very well nor some of them even needing to be in book. You could talk out a lot of that from the book and nothing in the story would have to change. Overall I just don’t know if the book did a good enough job critiquing the things that I have read people say it does a good job at. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Outing

gothmiku's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Incest, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Body horror, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

kimveach's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

This book is hard to review and equally hard to rate.  I both liked it and was annoyed by it.  It was slowly paced, but the further I got into the book, the more I wanted to finish it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism