Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

165 reviews

koiolee's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

Maybe I'll up the star rating after i mull it all over. But this book was incredibly slow. Wonderful prose and addictive writing. I'm left feeling like I'm a pig trotting through mud. I'm happy, but still going so very slow. I think this book would be wonderful for people interested in classics or Greek for them to cross reference, find lil tidbits, analyze why certain paragraphs were there necessary or even what they're alluding to. Unfortunately that's not me, i did not do that and it was a fine enough read. A bit long, a bit tedious, but not a bad read at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Death, Body horror, Incest, Hate crime, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Antisemitism, Alcoholism, Rape, Racism, Suicide, Self harm, Mental illness, Islamophobia, Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Drug use, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Medical content, Addiction, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

piikasmalls's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Drug use, Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Alcoholism, Incest, Violence, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Cursing, Racism, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Minor: Blood

cherryfreckle's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Drug abuse, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Drug use, Incest, Alcoholism, Classism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Medical content

Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Misogyny

lucyford's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

This book was SO GOOD. I don’t even know how to describe it in a way that truly encapsulates everything good about it. The plot is so well-written, and is really brought to life by the amazing writing style and slight poetic element to it, and all the atmospheres she creates just feel so real. Not to mention the foreshadowing (when you’re reading, you know it’s foreshadowing to something but you don’t know what it’s foreshadowing to, which is just so cool), and the fact that you’re always wondering how the story is possibly going to progress from point A to point B. The characters are all so complicated and interesting, and the themes of the books are very philosophical which makes the book all the more interesting. Overall, 10/10 read, absolutely exceeded my expectations. (ALSO THE ENDING??? CAUGHT ME SO OFF GUARD OMG)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicide, Body horror, Addiction, Alcohol, Mental illness, Grief, Death, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Vomit, Gore, Sexism, Drug abuse, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content

Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Rape, Stalking, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

moonbeamdmercutio's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

One of my favorite books of all time. Annoying before you realize that it's a satire on the author's past experiences and then it becomes insanely enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Incest, Death, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Cursing, and Drug use

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Animal death, Grief, Sexual content, and Car accident

Minor: Islamophobia, Racism, and Vomit

emilyvelle's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The first ~25% was very slow and I was considering giving up, but then Ms. Donna got my attention & I was hooked and engaged! This was such a fascinating story that I want to write an essay about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Classism, Toxic friendship, Antisemitism, and Bullying

Minor: Misogyny, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Incest

gologel's review

dark mysterious 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

This was an amazing read. Tartt knows how to capture her readers, make them root for her characters, make them accomplices of her characters, but also reminds us of their dark sides. Overall it was a very well-rounded story and even though I did not know what I expected from the ending, I was satisfied with it.

The only reason why this book does not get 5/5⭐️ is because the pace was a little too slow for my liking, making me wonder why I was reading about all of that in such great depth, especially in Book 2, and because not all of my questions have been answered.

But that's the most spectacular aspect of the book: you're not sure yourself how much you've been played.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Suicide, Gun violence, Addiction, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Sexism

neliadiedenise's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Medical content, Grief, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Murder, Toxic friendship, Blood, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Death, and Animal death

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

kshy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Blood, Death, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Classism, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Dysphoria