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A review by frankielovestofu
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Body horror, Incest, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Could do without the incest and racial slurs. Arguably, the racial slurs can be “justified” because they’re each only spoken once or twice by specific characters, and author either corrects behaviour of characters through another character or implies it’s not her thoughts. It’s clearly just to show how bigoted the characters saying it are, but still.
The incest is left ambiguous at the end, whether it’s a long-term SA situation or consensual relationship turned sour at end. Either way, definitely could of been written without with very minor impact on plot and/or book. I.e. could still write controlling character without sexual subplot. Sorry not sorry.
In addition, haven’t seen anyone mention it. There’s an extremely triggering (quick) mention of rape on page 484. Just skip the paragraph. It has NO effect on plot, it’s just unecessary and vulgar. essentially the protagonist is speaking to the female character, and in mid-conversation (since book is his inner monologue) internally shares his sudden urge to strangle and rape his friend, then says the thought disappears as quickly as it came. conversation continues, never mentioned again. the worst part, is that the female character is in the midst of sharing her physical and sexual abuse from her brother when our protagonist thinks this