Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

70 reviews

notdylan's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A definite nihilistic oddessy of a novel that at times felt similar to when you're trying to meet a page number requirement on an essay. Aside from the occasional meandering (which I'm sure was intentional but alot more could've been cut from the final draft honestly) Tartt's prose is absolutely stunning as always.

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ellieisreading's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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the_book_nook's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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akvolcano's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

If you’d like to get completely immersed into a characters life, read this book. I can not wait to discuss this book in-depth with someone!!!

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mawn323's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • 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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lcyarnall1's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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franzis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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thecourtofreading's review

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dark mysterious sad slow-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

3.75

finally finished this behemoth of a book. like, this took me way too long to finish. and i adore Donna Tartt. the secret history defined an era of my life for me. but the goldfinch. as much as i liked it, this book dragged on for WAY too long. like there were times where stuff could just be described simply and easily instead of flowery and over the top.

i liked the premise of this book, but the blurb made it seem more interesting than it actually was. it made it seem like Theo stole the painting, and then got pulled into an underworld where he then stole more paintings and ran from the cops. what this really was about was a traumatised boy, who never really found anyone who fully cared from him, did drugs, did alcohol, who clung to a painting that he associated with his recently deceased mother. Theo was exhausting to read about after a while, which is why it took me so long to finish because it was just his internal monologue and his thoughts. the paragraphs were so CHUNKY at times as well it kind of gave me a headache to read. it could've done with a lot being cut out and chopped down, but this is not me saying Donna Tartt is a bad author. she is phenomenal and continues to be phenomenal. i think i much preferred the secret history more, and that will always be my favourite.

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sadaf's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-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

4.75

In London, desperate for new “study abroad” friends, I made a coffee date with a Russian girl who was in one of my linguistics classes. She always had beautiful manicures, one time a Mondrian (another Dutchman), which had set us off on the topic of art history, and prompted us to pursue a friendship after.
The date was torturous, however: a never-ending debate, including a point at which she insisted that English girls were too soft, Russian women understood that catcalls were simply compliments. She told me about various horrible tales of her family, what they suffered and how they were happier for it, unlike the traumatized youth of today. It was an unpleasant ordeal that went on for two hours. At the end of it she smiled and hugged me excitedly, saying it was the most fun she’d had talking to someone in ages, that we must do it again. Thankfully, we didn’t. I remain flummoxed, though Boris was something like a cipher. 
Near the end, I feel the writing got muddled and began executing my least favorite method of “generating Meaningfulness”, which was lists, lists, lists. Enough. I get it. Life is a confusing torrent of unconnected moments… or something. I preferred her crystal clear observations with a deftly placed low-frequency lexical item. 

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noahh's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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