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tinyfishbigheart's review against another edition
2.75
Moderate: Ableism, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
jelliestars's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Classism, and Deportation
jayisreading's review against another edition
2.0
My opinion certainly changed, but it was for the worse. This book did not age well by any means with all its racism, ableism, and classism. Tartt certainly writes with eloquence, but her writing is steeped with issues that left me cringing and frustrated. Something that caught my attention was the near absence of nonwhite characters in New York City, of all places, unless they were "the help." I'm not sure how I didn't catch this years ago, considering how glaring these details were.
I also found it even harder to sympathize with the protagonist, Theo, during this reread. The messiness of grief was well presented—even if it was a bit extreme with the addiction and alcoholism—but I was really unhappy with how Tartt went about Theo's relationships in such a dismissive way. He was so wrapped up in his own world that it negatively affected how he treated the people around him. Pippa is objectified in a Manic Pixie Dream Girl kind of way, while Kitsy was treated terribly. The queer experience that Theo had with Boris also went completely unaddressed, which makes me wonder why Tartt bothered adding this detail other than to shock the reader.
A disappointing reread, to say the least.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Racism, and Classism
Minor: Child abuse
madelonpaige's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
bloodredscar832's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
In the end, I don’t quite know how to describe my experience reading this book and my thoughts afterwords. I enjoyed the book well enough, but I especially liked the writing style - I really need to look into more of Donna Tartt’s works, her writing style is so descriptive and flowy and beautiful; I really like it. The characters were all interesting in their own ways (I particularly liked Hobie, Boris, and the Barbour’s, Mrs. Barbour specifically) and I enjoyed all of Theo’s interactions with each character. I think that this is definitely a story that needed to be told, and one that will stick with readers for a long time - whether good or bad.
For negatives, I believe that the book was much too long. My version had 771 pages, and it was an absolute pain to get through. I thought it was pretty impressive that the author was able to have subplots in the middle and keep the book interesting. As I realized later, the way she wrote the middle and the subplots she included actually made the middle of the book read as being rather plain and I had to drag myself through by sitting down and forcing myself to read. I felt that the last 200 or 300 pages were disconnected from the book - like I was reading a completely separate book. It was especially hard to get through that section for some reason, probably because I didn’t care much for the situation or many of the random side characters. It seemed that I was just getting a bunch of names thrown at me and I didn’t really bother trying to remember who was who. Plus, the last 50 pages were strange compared to the rest of the book and didn’t really add anything, although I did enjoy the writing and the philosophical speech, however, it didn’t really fit with the work in my opinion. Almost like Donna Tartt was getting tired of writing and just threw something on there at the end - the ending to me, simply, felt unsatisfying and the book felt incomplete.
All-in-all, definitely a book I’m glad I read (I mean, the writing style alone was just incredible for me, mwah)! The book drew me in with the interesting plot line and kept me hooked with these side characters that were far more interesting than Theo. I don’t necessarily know if it’s a book I would read again, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The words and characters that I’ve read in this book over the past two months have definitely left a lasting impression, and I think that you should (at-least) give the book a shot!
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Ableism, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide attempt
danuu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol