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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
dark
sad
tense
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
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Recommended by Vivian. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sworld%20cannot%20give%20burton__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
3.5
The Secret History but for choir kids. This was one of those books where every character is unlikable but still I kept reading and wanting them to do something that would redeem them. The ending was really intense in an unexpected way, but also made perfect sense.
The Secret History but for choir kids. This was one of those books where every character is unlikable but still I kept reading and wanting them to do something that would redeem them. The ending was really intense in an unexpected way, but also made perfect sense.
dark
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder
This was what I hoped from it, mostly: pretentious boarding school students obsessed with a dead writer who it turns out fought on the fascist side in the Spanish Civil War, lots of obsession and that belief that everyone cares about your drama when nobody really does (like The Secret History), pseudo-philosophical ideals that cause the students to do things to match up to them, etc. It says some interesting things about dark academia through the characters and what they do, but also gives all the major expected dark academia elements.
I raced through it and had a fun time. I liked how it explored queerness, especially teenage experiences, but I do wish on reflection there was a bit more delving into that aspect and how it related to the characters' other ideals/experiences/senses of the future. Still, it really was what I wanted to read, as someone who is quite picky with books trying to be The Secret History.
I raced through it and had a fun time. I liked how it explored queerness, especially teenage experiences, but I do wish on reflection there was a bit more delving into that aspect and how it related to the characters' other ideals/experiences/senses of the future. Still, it really was what I wanted to read, as someone who is quite picky with books trying to be The Secret History.
3 stars. So close to being something really good but it unfortunately misses the mark. While the writing was decent, and some of the themes in this were interesting, a lot of the dialogue was very cheesy and none of the characters are fleshed out or memorable.
Laura is a blank slate of a character. Nothing stands out about her. She’s easily influenced and she never really becomes her own person in the end which I thought was an odd choice. The main catalyst of the story is Virginia and even she was underdeveloped and cliche. I didn’t understand why everyone was so under her spell. She had no depth and her personality was so dry.
The ending should’ve hit harder but again I didn’t care about any of the characters so I honestly didn’t care and I didn’t feel any type of way about it which sucks because it was pretty shocking.
I didn’t think this was terrible, nor did I hate it. It honestly had a lot of potential but it never really came together. Three stars for the writing, the themes, and the quick pacing.
Laura is a blank slate of a character. Nothing stands out about her. She’s easily influenced and she never really becomes her own person in the end which I thought was an odd choice. The main catalyst of the story is Virginia and even she was underdeveloped and cliche. I didn’t understand why everyone was so under her spell. She had no depth and her personality was so dry.
The ending should’ve hit harder but again I didn’t care about any of the characters so I honestly didn’t care and I didn’t feel any type of way about it which sucks because it was pretty shocking.
I didn’t think this was terrible, nor did I hate it. It honestly had a lot of potential but it never really came together. Three stars for the writing, the themes, and the quick pacing.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's about terrible, unlikable people doing terrible, unlikable things.
Often framed as another 'The Secret History', The World Cannot Give is just another meh dark academic novel. The novel begins with our main character, Laura Stearns, as she journeys to St. Dunstan's, the school of her beloved author Sebastian Webster. She arrives to only unlikable characters. From feminist activist Isobel Zhao to influencer Bonnie and the enigmatic Virginia Strauss, I don't think there's a single character who I actually cared for. Everyone was either forgettable (even Laura forgets Miranda), especially the boys who were impossible to keep track of, or not just unlikable in an interesting, anti-hero, morally grey way but actually difficult to sympathize or care about way. Laura is so dogged in her devotion to Virginia to the point of embarrassment without really much motivation, Isobel and Bonnie feel like parodies of the social ills the choir group hates instead of people, and the novel's it girl Virginia is both underwhelming and unbelievable at times.
The plot itself is fine, though not terribly exciting. The novel and its character really want to have all these deep thoughts about greatness and the 'sclerotic modern world', which is only a good phrase the first dozen times you say it, but instead it lacks. It doesn't necessarily advocate for achieving World Historicalness nor does it satisfactorily decry it. And while a work doesn't need to have a resolute moral or lesson, it's ambiguity leaves the reader dissatisfied. Especially when the messy queer desire, a staple of the genre and essential to these dark academia novels, the raw hurt of yearning and love and hate, doesn't give.
As disappointing as 'A Lesson in Vengeance', The World Cannot Give just kinda happened.
Often framed as another 'The Secret History', The World Cannot Give is just another meh dark academic novel. The novel begins with our main character, Laura Stearns, as she journeys to St. Dunstan's, the school of her beloved author Sebastian Webster. She arrives to only unlikable characters. From feminist activist Isobel Zhao to influencer Bonnie and the enigmatic Virginia Strauss, I don't think there's a single character who I actually cared for. Everyone was either forgettable (even Laura forgets Miranda), especially the boys who were impossible to keep track of, or not just unlikable in an interesting, anti-hero, morally grey way but actually difficult to sympathize or care about way. Laura is so dogged in her devotion to Virginia to the point of embarrassment without really much motivation, Isobel and Bonnie feel like parodies of the social ills the choir group hates instead of people, and the novel's it girl Virginia is both underwhelming and unbelievable at times.
The plot itself is fine, though not terribly exciting. The novel and its character really want to have all these deep thoughts about greatness and the 'sclerotic modern world', which is only a good phrase the first dozen times you say it, but instead it lacks. It doesn't necessarily advocate for achieving World Historicalness nor does it satisfactorily decry it. And while a work doesn't need to have a resolute moral or lesson, it's ambiguity leaves the reader dissatisfied. Especially when the messy queer desire, a staple of the genre and essential to these dark academia novels, the raw hurt of yearning and love and hate, doesn't give.
As disappointing as 'A Lesson in Vengeance', The World Cannot Give just kinda happened.