Reviews - The World Cannot Give

542 reviews for:

The World Cannot Give

Tara Isabella Burton

3.57 AVERAGE

fionamclary's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is not outstanding and it does kind of explain the Message to you at the end, but it will scratch the itch for a classic, aesthetic tragedy.

Content Warnings

nikkinmichaels's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

gvainisi's review against another edition

IM SO ANNOYED. THE FIRST 100 PAGES WERE AMAZING. put two girls together in a candlelit crypt, one who’s been crushing HARD (without really knowing it) on the other?? yes, i love that. misty boarding school in maine on the water?? well, yes!! laura gets to go to the school that her hero/ author (writer of her favorite book, which became her life philosophy) went to — it’s kind of like us mere mortals going to bennington in honor of donna tartt — and she meets a girl there who is scary and passionate and fiery and all of the boys around her are OBSESSED with her and basically are her servants. amazing premise! and there are some really good bits about sapphic desire and being young and not recognizing desire for what it actually is (those were my favorite parts)! but the plot took a turn i really didn’t like, and there was a crazy plot twist at the end that was kind of good but also just pissed me off. that’s more my problem than the book’s problem tho - i wanted to read a book about the softness and magic of sapphic love and i thought that was this book. let me warn you! it is not!

thehauntedfawn's review against another edition

3.25

dark sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

greygeisel's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Really loved this book! The setting alone of a boarding school along the NE coast is already interesting enough but the hot-to-cold sapphic longing was also really captivating. The end is dark and caught me a little more off guard but honestly felt very perfect for this book!

sam_is_reading's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional 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

I enjoyed so much of this book but just really gotta get away from YA. I cannot relate to teenagers anymore lol

This feels like peak dark academia - more Gothic than anything else. I enjoyed the group's strong emotional attachments to each other, the choral group, and to Sebastian Webster's novel that takes place on the grounds of their school. The absolute all-encompassing obsession reminds me of my youth (and tbh I'm embarassed by some of it haha)

I did have to take breaks from this because Virginia was just so incredibly insufferable. I've never related to a priest before but Revered Tipton was absolutely right to knock her down a few pegs.

Thank you to Simon Books & Tara Isabella Burton for the review copy :)