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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
3.5, the bones are so good. I wish the prose was a bit more flowery if that makes sense? Sometimes it felt more YAF than dark academia
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexual assault
Minor: War
dark
reflective
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
holy SHIT lol this went so hard. sapphic dark academia (like, really really dark) .... weird repressed cult leader
wish it were like, slightly better written with slightly more interesting characters, but the concept works so well that i'm willing to ignore that because i had a great time guessing what was going to happen next. if you thought the secret history was boring and overhyped, read this instead.
cw: suicidal ideation, abuse, homophobic slurs, on-page sexual assault, disordered eating
wish it were like, slightly better written with slightly more interesting characters, but the concept works so well that i'm willing to ignore that because i had a great time guessing what was going to happen next. if you thought the secret history was boring and overhyped, read this instead.
cw: suicidal ideation, abuse, homophobic slurs, on-page sexual assault, disordered eating
Since I enter so many giveaways I don't get a chance to read all of them - but my friend Jodi did and wrote this wonderful review!:
Released on March 8th, 2022, Tara Isabella Burton's heady exploration of adolescence, toxic friendships, first love, obsession, and tragedy is an unforgettable tour-de-force. The novel follows the sheltered 16-year-old Laura Stearns into her junior year at St. Dunstan's Academy, the hallowed alma mater of her beloved Romantic writer Sebastian Webster, who died tragically - if, as she finds out, not so heroically - in the Spanish Civil War. Her lofty vision of the school is both challenged by the school's very real students and conflicts, and deepened by her infatuation with the mysterious, gothically-perfect Virginia Strauss, who leads Laura into her world of asceticism and artistic rigor in the name of a Websterian godliness.
Burton prods at the veneration that boarding school stories often hold for old money and tragic figures, and warns against interpreting the past in ways that downplay its bloody, ugly parts; doing so will only resurrect that ugliness in the present. We see her masterfully illustrate how Laura's and the other characters' descent into Virginia's irresistible orbit brings about those very consequences, and turns the St. Dunstan campus from idyllic to dangerous and, eventually, deadly. No player in this misty teen drama is left to uncomplicated stereotype, even through the eyes of a narrator that is prone to thinking in absolutes.
Fans of Donna Tartt, the Brontes, and the "dark academia" aesthetic are sure to be lured by such a premise, and left shaken by its powerful conclusion. (This review was written for the Advance Reader Copy of The World Cannot Give; all opinions are my own, and are not sponsored by the author, publisher, or others involved in the book's production.)
Released on March 8th, 2022, Tara Isabella Burton's heady exploration of adolescence, toxic friendships, first love, obsession, and tragedy is an unforgettable tour-de-force. The novel follows the sheltered 16-year-old Laura Stearns into her junior year at St. Dunstan's Academy, the hallowed alma mater of her beloved Romantic writer Sebastian Webster, who died tragically - if, as she finds out, not so heroically - in the Spanish Civil War. Her lofty vision of the school is both challenged by the school's very real students and conflicts, and deepened by her infatuation with the mysterious, gothically-perfect Virginia Strauss, who leads Laura into her world of asceticism and artistic rigor in the name of a Websterian godliness.
Burton prods at the veneration that boarding school stories often hold for old money and tragic figures, and warns against interpreting the past in ways that downplay its bloody, ugly parts; doing so will only resurrect that ugliness in the present. We see her masterfully illustrate how Laura's and the other characters' descent into Virginia's irresistible orbit brings about those very consequences, and turns the St. Dunstan campus from idyllic to dangerous and, eventually, deadly. No player in this misty teen drama is left to uncomplicated stereotype, even through the eyes of a narrator that is prone to thinking in absolutes.
Fans of Donna Tartt, the Brontes, and the "dark academia" aesthetic are sure to be lured by such a premise, and left shaken by its powerful conclusion. (This review was written for the Advance Reader Copy of The World Cannot Give; all opinions are my own, and are not sponsored by the author, publisher, or others involved in the book's production.)
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
dark
reflective
medium-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
2.75/5 stars rounded up to 3 ✨ the cover and title drew me in (i do love an otherworldly aesthetic). what followed was a good novel—like, nothing groundbreaking or life changing but an enjoyable read grounded in the tradition of "dark academia."
to really *get* it though, i had to put myself back in my 16-year old mindset like laura. insecure baby kim, yearning indefinitely for something she doesn't yet understand. for meaning! drama! a life to shipwreck the soul!
current me can see the pretention of all of the characters and the misguided faith that laura placed in virginia. but it isn't about current me—it's about being a teenage girl who lives in her head.
the ending, i could have done without. that pushed it a little over the edge (in a bad way lol)...but i digress.
to really *get* it though, i had to put myself back in my 16-year old mindset like laura. insecure baby kim, yearning indefinitely for something she doesn't yet understand. for meaning! drama! a life to shipwreck the soul!
current me can see the pretention of all of the characters and the misguided faith that laura placed in virginia. but it isn't about current me—it's about being a teenage girl who lives in her head.
the ending, i could have done without. that pushed it a little over the edge (in a bad way lol)...but i digress.