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lynxpardinus's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Transphobia, and Cancer
Further warning for a student/teacher relationship - never framed as a bad thing as far as I can tell.miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
‘Silence settled, and i was struck by the senseless idea that we and everything around us was made of glass. I was afraid to breathe, afraid to move, afraid something might break.’
‘The water, too, was still, and I thought, what liars they are, the sky and the water. Still and calm and clear, like everything was fine, and really, it never would be again.’
‘When was the last time you made a mark like this on someone and didn’t know you were doing it.’
‘If he knows how easily he can hurt me, what’s going to make him stop?’
‘Unsure of whether i was trying to protect her or control her or both.’
‘It seemed that soo long as we did it together, our individual sins might be abated. There is no comfort like complicity.’
‘Already I’d found a thousand things to be afraid if. What is one of us let something slip? Talked in our sleep? Forgot how the story was supposed to go? Or perhaps
we’d walk on tiptoes the rest of our lives, waiting for the thread to snap, the axe to fall.’
I enjoyed this dont get me wrong I’m just mad about the end
Graphic: Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Murder, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
helenferg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
Graphic: Suicide and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Sexual harassment
ingamaloy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Suicide, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Eating disorder, and Alcoholism
mb5823's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Blood, Death, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Cursing, and Bullying
ok7a's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Death, Alcohol, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Sexual harassment, Blood, Drug abuse, Vomit, and Eating disorder
charlereads's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Moderate: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Murder, Body shaming, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Addiction, and Toxic friendship
jacobandthefrogs's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Theatre troupe of 7 turns to a shatter 6 when one of them is dead after the opening night of their first show of the year.
The characters in this book took me as a reader by storm, with terrible decisions but realistic voices. If someone spoke to me any of their dialogue in real life I would tinge on the feeling of unsafeness and insanity around them, because their voices are dipped and coated in that old English of Shakespeare in at least 25% of their words on paper. I knew this book would highlight many of Shakespeare’s plays given the synopsis but the depth and thought given to how they are interpreted really adds a much deeper level to how I appreciated the novel.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Violence, Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Biphobia and Homophobia
sauvageloup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
(spoilers throughout this review)
Pros:
- the whole book is written like a tragedy, unfolding in a meta way that isn't obvious at first but becomes slowly clearer. the more we learn about the characters - Oliver's obsession with James, Richard's anger, Alexander's substance use, Filippa's unflappability and desperation for a family, James' steady collapse and Wren's fragility - the more inescapable the ending is. i sensed from the first time it's stated that James and Oliver meet in the bathroom that it might've been James but that didn't make it any less gripping. it doesn't end as tragically as a tragedy could have but it kept me wrapped up and guessing throughout, utterly hooked into the early hours. the sense of being totally immersed in the poetry and the cultish world the characters inhabit is as obsessively compelling as the characters themselves find it and the book was impossible to put down.
- the writing is direct and simple, in-between beautiful figurative turns of phrase and the quotes and verse. the dialogue is very convincing as Shakespeare-obsessed thespians and i'm not surprised to find out that the author is a Shakespeare scholar. the poetry was woven into the prose and James being unable to escape the words of Edmund, the villain, at the end was so well-written and perfect for the story. like the characters, I was drawn into the quotations, with all their layers, and then eventually trapped within them. the plays and the story become one and the same as the characters can't escape their roles, just as the title quotes says in the later pages - that the characters become as they were cast.
- at the start, i wasn't impressed with the type casting - the dull sidekick, the angelic hero, the angry drunkard boyfriend, the seductress, etc. - but that's the point. the whole story is a meta reflection on how Shakespearean, extreme emotions might play out in a dark academia scenario. the premise or even the plot isn't that complicated or original, but the writing and how it unfolds really makes it something special.
- bits i also enjoyed was the queer aspect, in that it wasn't strictly put into a box for James or Oliver but wasn't brushed under the rug either. it signals to the homoerotic tension that's never realised in classical lit that you can do a tragedy with the queerness out there in the open.
- the trauma was also dealt with, through all of their breaking-aparts, though perhaps Oliver is the most composed of them really, or maybe Filippa. whilst it's partly the guilt that makes them breakdown like Macbeth, there's also the PTSD from the death itself that's addressed and explored in the different ways it comes up in each of the characters.
Cons:
- the ending confused me. i suppose its supposed to be a glimpse of hope - that real life doesn't have to be a tragedy if only James asks for help, like any of them could've earlier on (Meredith and James after Richard's abuse, Alexander with his substance abuse, Wren with her nerves, etc.) But i felt it was also kind of circular and tragic in a different way - just as we see the possibility of Oliver living a new life with Meredith in NYC, there's this new shock. Will Oliver ever escape James' influence as long as James is alive?
- i did read it quickly and struggled not to skip bits, but i did find the number of characters confusing. I'm still not sure who Camilo was exactly, and i didn't get a good feeling of who Filippa and Wren were really, except as fairly vague side characters - i had more of a sense of Frederick and Gwendolyn than the other two members of the seven.
- whilst Oliver got better, I still felt like he was the dullest of the characters. I suppose that's part of his role - Nick to James' Gatsby - always the sidekick to the hero, but i did think it might've been better if there'd been switching POVs, or if Oliver had been more active from earlier on.
- Oliver is very disrespectful towards eating disorders, which makes him really dislikable. i assume the author doesn't really condone such behaviour, but it felt unnecessary, and the book didn't really show any consequences for his callousness towards his seriously ill sister. There were other bits of insensitivity too and whilst maybe they were supposed to have a narrative purpose, some bits just felt carelessly cruel and unneeded.
- i wasn't convinced that 10 years of prison really had such little impact on Oliver, he seems unchanged between the before and after and that seemed odd. that he and Meredith fall right back into it was strange too, but i guess the idea is that time has been suspended for them (?).
(- personally, i'm still not a fan of the first person, i find it difficult to get a real idea of the main character when 'I' is being used all the time, but that's my preference, not a fault with the story.)
overall its a hugely unnerving and fascinating book that made me want to reread Shakespeare, to save the book to read again sometime, and to read anything else Rio has written. it wasn't perfect but it was definitely addictive and there were some absolutely beautiful lines in there.
Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Infidelity, Drug use, Vomit, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Cursing, Bullying, Alcohol, Addiction, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Body horror, Blood, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Eating disorder, Body shaming, Biphobia, and Homophobia
the eating disorder part is brief but painful and the MC is dismissive and cruel to the person with an ED. there's mentions of weigh-ins and comments on the MC's body in the story, but it's brief. the homophobia and biphobia is brief but there's a theme of repression throughout.packedjam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Suicide, Murder, Blood, Alcohol, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Infidelity and Sexism