Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Tripping Arcadia

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Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist

22 reviews

nithya_natalya's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a very fun novel, and once I got into it, moved very quickly. Very dark and bitter, and a satisfying portrayal of the decay beneath the glitz of capitalism and celebrity.

The only reason that I didn't give this five stars is because I wanted it to go further than it did. While the atmosphere and general mood of the novel felt gothic, the climax and resolution didn't feel grisly and tragic and destructive enough. It felt like eat the rich, except we only got the appetizer before the novel was over.

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fseely's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

Context:

I read Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist because of Jesse On Youtube’s recommendation. I borrowed it from my local library through the Libby App.

Review:

Lately, I’ve been reading and watching a lot of stories about poor protagonists who work for ominous wealthy people/corporations. Tripping Arcadia certainly falls into this category, and I can see its potential; it has a strong beginning chapter and some interesting plot threads. Beneath its Gothic vibes, however, Tripping Arcadia is nothing more than a clunky debut novel that struggles under the weight of its stilted prose, flat characters, and convoluted plot.

When reading Tripping Arcadia, experienced readers will recognize some of the common prose mistakes made by debut authors: awkward phrasing, the tendency to tell instead of show, overuse of passive voice, etc. It could have been worse—it didn’t prevent me from becoming engrossed in the story—but it also left something to be desired.

For me, the most interesting part of the book is the two wealthy siblings, Jonathan and Audrey. They appear to have a checkered past and Mayquist wraps them up in an aura of mystery; are they to be pitied, or to be feared? Unfortunately, we never learn much about them and they remain in enigmas rather than developed characters. Similarly, Lena, the protagonist, fails to come alive on the page. She claims to care about her family and friends but easily abandons them to hang out with the rich people she supposedly hates, and her supposed rage against the wealthy disappears at the drop of the hat when Mayquist needs to move the plot along. In the hands of a more capable author, this sort of dithering could be fascinating, but at the end of the day, Lena is confusing and boring.

One of the biggest appeals of books like Tripping Arcadia is the opportunity to see rich people behaving badly and hopefully get punished for it. The wealthy in this book do indeed behave badly, but not in any way that made me think that Mayquist has any solid grasp on what rich people and their lives are actually like. The result is a ludicrously convoluted plot that makes no sense. By the end of Tripping Arcadia, I had no idea what was going on—but I also didn’t care.

The Run-Down:

You might like Tripping Arcadia if . . .

· You’re in it for the Gothic vibes, bisexual main character, and trippy plot

· You’re looking for a thriller rather than a horror novel

You might not like Tripping Arcadia if . . .

· You like well-developed characters and a believable plot

· You want an incisive social commentary about wealth

A Similar Text:

The movie 2023 movie Saltburn, which at the time of writing this review is all the rage. I liked Saltburn much more than Tripping Arcadia, so take this comparison with that in mind. Similarities include:

· Family of rich, dysfunctional assholes who host lavish, drug-filled parties in their Gothic mansion

· An outsider main character with devious intentions

· Poison and murder

· Sexual tension between the main character and two rich siblings

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jillaay_h's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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laketwentytwo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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turnipthebeet's review against another edition

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The writing was a bit simple and not engrossing. I found myself mostly just wanting to know what happened but uninterested in any of the characters or the love interests / relationships etc. The intrigue was not intriguing.

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city_girl_writer's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was really good. I loved the the gothic imagery of New England, the medical content regarding poisons, the bonds between Lend, Johnathan, and Audrey, etc. My only gripe was the reveals towards the end. I had a hard time piecing everything together. Maybe in a week or so, it would all make sense. Nonetheless, I would recommend this but it's not for everyone.

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mikaylaxreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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anxiousnachos's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense

5.0

Fucking glorious. This book has slithered its vines into my head and completely consumed me. It haunts my soul. This bisexual hedonistic Gothic botanical horror has such exquisite vibes and such a wonderful pitch that I was a little worried it could never live up to what I wanted it to be - and then it did?! Iconic. It reads like a Baz Luhrmann film: somehow hazy and dream-like (or nightmarish), everything in slow-mo or reverse, I close my eyes and I can see scenes play out on my eyeballs so perfectly it has been carved into me. Poisons and sex parties and discussions of classism and murder and bisexuals and a sapphic relationship and a self-destructive man who longs for death ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

This book was painful. It will cut you and carve itself into your soul and it will hurt. I loved every inch of it.

Content warnings: drug use and addiction, alcohol use and addiction, chronic illness, chronic pain, non-consensual drug use including use of date-rape drugs, self harm, violence, blood, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, murder, attempted murder, classism

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ladymab's review against another edition

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dark tense

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

3.75

I really wanted to like this book but all the characters felt like stock items to be set dressing and none of them had any influence on the motivations or plot of Lena -- not even the siblings, at least not until halfway through the book. Lena hardly spoke to anyone and kept in an internal narration for most of it which made it very hard to get to know anyone. I get the unreliable narrator,

especially because she prefaces the story with "i killed this whole family" only for you to realize what specifically that means by the end

but at the same time it's also like i couldn't even understand her own motivations. lena wafted back and forth a lot on why she was doing what she was doing where sometimes she would make a choice and I'd be like "wait why are you acting like this".

I felt like there were two different versions of this book that got chopped together to form this final version. Either one would have been good but together they didn't mesh well in a way that i could enjoy. I WANTED to like it, and once you finally start getting actual conversations with the siblings they're interesting (if shallow) characters. But otherwise it was a bit "shrugs shoulders".

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