Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Le Chardonneret by Donna Tartt

78 reviews

redroseses's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Racial slurs

shopgiri's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

5.0

An incredibly smart and rich novel. I want to say it's one of the best things I've ever read. I love novels that keep my mind active and make me remember that I know how to read properly and read into things, and this is exactly that. I felt totally raw (and smarter) by the time I finished this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Racial slurs

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.0

I think this one just wasn’t for me. Tartt is undeniably an incredibly gifted writer. Her characters leap off the page. The Goldfinch reads like a memoir and I often found myself wondering how it’s possible that someone could pull such real characters out of their head. The audiobook narrator is also masterful in his performance of each one. But part of why I continued to ask myself this was because their lives, and consequently this book, are just so oppressively bleak. Like, I’m a proud Sad Girl™, but this felt like too much sometimes. 

There were also numerous times where I felt like we were gearing up for an ending only to check the audiobook and realize that somehow I still had 13 hours left. As I got to the end, I started to have my usual audiobook thoughts of “maybe I’d like this more if I read with my eyes,” especially with the discussions about the importance of art to the human experience. But I’m not sure I would’ve had the endurance for this book in print. And when it does finally end, it feels very

Boris

ex machina and entirely too quick and easy. I don’t know, man. Maybe all the new adult fantasy I’ve been reading lately is finally rotting my brain. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Terrorism, bombing, organized crime

annamiaswart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

jelliestars's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

booksandboba's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

I can’t give a star/numerical rating to this book because I really don’t know how to describe my feelings.

When I first read it, I loved it, loved the writing style and character development (it was my first or one of my first encounters with writing like this), really related to descriptions of anxiety and depression, considered it my favorite book. Read it a second time and started forming doubts, particularly with noticing issues of classism and racism. Read it a third time, this time annotating heavily for themes present throughout the book (question of fate vs free will, good vs bad and moral responsibility, depression and grief vs hope, art and its beauty and importance, friendship and love, impermanence vs permanence, time, life and death) and enjoyed doing that, but in doing so realized that the book really could have been edited better. I found the ending to be sloppy and not satisfying. And the way that blatant racism is used in the book (equating East Asian and especially Chinese culture and objects with cheapness) is just appalling.

And apparently it took 10 years or more to write this book, which either means that those choices were deliberate and well-thought out, choosing to only have people of color represented in minor roles mostly as working class serving the white upper class, choosing to use racist notions to make character points, or she somehow in all that time failed to consider these choices — why she might be making them, what they mean, what sort of impact they would have — despite the clear time and attention to detail given to making this book. 

Maybe you can claim that Theo, as a character, is racist, and that it just adds to the long list of character flaws and why we can’t trust him as a reliable narrator etc., but we already have so many examples so why would this be necessary? The racism does not directly connect to a point that needs to made either for plot or theme as far as I can see, and even if Theo as a character is just racist, that still doesn’t explain why the only people of color we encounter are in working class positions, save maybe the two social workers. (And he can’t even remember the Korean woman’s name, and just has to mention that her breath smells like garlic?)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy

eher1305's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rae_kjise's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

syd4panda's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

took me about seven months to read. somewhat of a comfort book during that time, but nothing i'd pick up again. got attached to the characters and learned to love and hate their flaws. despite the art gallery bombing being an experience that (i'm assuming) no reader has gone through as well as being an art thief, theo himself is certainly relatable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Vomit

stevienielson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail