Only read this post if you’ve read the book MAJOR SPOILERS!!!
WHAT THE F!!!!!!!!!! I don’t know whether I’m mad at the author or at the situation I just read……. Does no one care that this little boy just escaped from a freaking explosion and got ZERO medical attention!!!! And the social workers didn’t even ask where he was at the time of the explosion. Do they even KNOW he was there???? He’s clearly concussed as hell!!! His mother just died and no one showed him a single ounce of compassion 😭😭😭 was the book written purposely to make me feel this extremely frustrated? There was entire paragraphs I skipped because I just wanted to get to the part where he made it to a hospital and someone cared for him… WHICH NEVER HAPPENED!!!! AGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 am I the only one who felt like this. I’ve never been this mad at a book before
by sunlover010
9 Comments
Oh, just wait. This is one of my favorite books. But yes, frustrating and heartbreaking at parts.
Keep going. It’s called a slow building plot. I’m sorry if I sound rude but your post makes me rather angry at your attitude that the book has to do what you think is right? Maybe that is part of the plot???? And you are supposed to feel something???
It’s the best book I will NEVER read again. Keep going.
It’s an infuriating book. I regret the time I wasted reading it. I loved the Secret History but Tartt really missed the mark with this one.
Your rant is the best recommendation for the author I’ve ever read. That is exactly what she wanted you to feel and exactly provides the rationale for almost every thing that happens in the book.
Not many people understand, as you and Donna Tartt do, the effect trauma like this can have on a child. It goes on often invisible to most adults.
In my opinion it’s also part of what makes Tartt one of the best authors around.
It’s very much a character background.
To me, though, it isn’t that much worse than books where the main character is forced to sleep in a closet and the adults around him don’t do anything about the fact that he’s beaten and underfed.
“Does no one care that this little boy just escaped from a freaking explosion and got ZERO medical attention!!!! ”
they literally sent two professionals to his location the second they figured out this was a kid. he didn’t even have to tell the phone lady, they made a guess and just sent people over.
“And the social workers didn’t even ask where he was at the time of the explosion. ”
because they were treating him with kid gloves. they knew he was traumatized, severely. they did not want to probe that wound so soon. they were showing him compassion. instead of interrogating him immediately like a criminal, >!they took him to where he most desperately wanted to go: his best friend’s house.!<
as for hospital, every hospital in the area is probably overwhelmed with victims with injuries far more severe and life threatening than theo’s.
“His mother just died and no one showed him a single ounce of compassion ”
did we read the same book? i thought the social workers were very kind to him. theo was the one who regarded them like swamp monsters who were fixing to drag him into lower socio-economic hell from which he will never emerge. theo clearly did not “take” to them. in that situation, faced with a distrustful teenager who had just gone through some crazy atomic level trauma, the worst thing they could have done was drown him in hugs and kisses. like c’mon theo was kind of a snob, he would not have enjoyed being fawned over by people he associated with the poors.
anyway, read on and imo plenty of people show theo love and compassion.
I hated this book. I had to force myself to finish it.
I’m an avid reader and like to finish all books that I start but I could not finish this book.