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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
This book wasn't for me, I struggled with it and did finish it but it was too much dialogue about things I don't care about and too much naivety mixed with over wroughtness . Others might like it of course, her language was beautiful at times
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
dark
reflective
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Okay, I really liked this book and I think it would be perfect for your fall TBR. Dark academia (but light on them actually going to any kind of class), dangerous religious obsession, cult/obsessive friendship situation (I got Holy Hell documentary vibes). Burton is very good at writing messed up characters with a cult of personality around them (also loved this in Social Creature). Also a little reminiscent of The Atmospherians, my favorite book from last year.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
okay,
well the reviews on this book don't lie i would give it 3.5 stars but it kept me reading throughout so i thought it only fair to round up to 4 stars
not much can be said in terms of plot, you can compare this to the secret history or if we were villains or whatever dark gritty academia novels but it definitely doesn't feel like one until like the last quarter?? like all the issues seem so negligible and normal and it just feels like so little actually leads up to the ending and at the end it explains "well this and this and this were all indicators that was going to happen at the end"
also i don't know how to feel about the motifs of religion & stuff they discuss. throughout the novel they talk about religion and webster, the writer that laura and virginia are obsessed with, and the whole gripe with them is like "well our boarding school makes everyone go to church every Friday and this girl isobel thinks that's messed up but its because isobel is a messed up person" like no i think she's right. also it never really gets addressed how webster is like a fascist and the whole time laura and virginia are like "he's a fascist but he really believed in his cause so its fine" i don't think so babes.
pretty good book tho first book I've finished since my slump
well the reviews on this book don't lie i would give it 3.5 stars but it kept me reading throughout so i thought it only fair to round up to 4 stars
not much can be said in terms of plot, you can compare this to the secret history or if we were villains or whatever dark gritty academia novels but it definitely doesn't feel like one until like the last quarter?? like all the issues seem so negligible and normal and it just feels like so little actually leads up to the ending and at the end it explains "well this and this and this were all indicators that
also i don't know how to feel about the motifs of religion & stuff they discuss. throughout the novel they talk about religion and webster, the writer that laura and virginia are obsessed with, and the whole gripe with them is like "well our boarding school makes everyone go to church every Friday and this girl isobel thinks that's messed up but its because isobel is a messed up person" like no i think she's right. also it never really gets addressed how webster is like a fascist and the whole time laura and virginia are like "he's a fascist but he really believed in his cause so its fine" i don't think so babes.
pretty good book tho first book I've finished since my slump
dark
emotional
tense
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
Im probably going to have to stare at a wall for a while after reading this. I am just absolutely mindblown, it was so good. If you like boarding school/cult/obsessive friendship vibes then this is the perfect read for you. I honestly couldn’t tell what was going to happen at any point of this book but it was so well done. I will definitely recommend this to everyone and I wish I could read it for the first time again.
*this was a goodreads giveaway so thank you Simon and schuster!*
*this was a goodreads giveaway so thank you Simon and schuster!*
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you’re the type of person (like myself) who likes stuffy, pretentious books about big ideas, and finding oneself, and being important in a romantic sort of way, then this book is for you. It’s gorgeously written and kind of feels a little claustrophobic. Religious fervor can be a poison. We should all be careful.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The World Cannot Give starts off on a slow, perhaps even excruciating note for me, but nevertheless touches accurately on the aesthetic-driven trends of the present. Infuriating fixations on oversimplified whitewashed institutions and 'great men,' which the author navigates especially prudently in this book, is a symptom of youth today returning to tradition and things which have aged poorly. What begins, as with our main character, as a harmless aesthetic obsession concerned with looks and vibes of a thing without digging anywhere past surface-level of the thing in question, quickly evolves into becoming pipelined from that selfsame aestheticism into actual ideologies, with dangerously real consequences. Our main character lacks an out-of-the-ordinary political or moral identity, but is very quickly changed by the alluring image of boarding school, prep-school New England vibes, something you may know in the term 'dark academia' today. Laden with political, cultural, and traditional connotations, very few kids who land on this trend know exactly what it is they're biting into until they've already reached the core, and perhaps cut themselves in the process.
The story thrives at its best with Virginia Strauss, the hypnotizing force of personality who, in all her brazen toxicity and authority, spearheads the plot of this narrative singlehandedly. And yet the very same character that forms the core of this book proves also to be the largest weight on its depth, as we quickly discover that even Strauss, the leader of 'thinking deeper about things,' has only a surface-level religion, surface-level philosophy, and surface-level politics which are all equally vibes-based on a shared fixation on a niche author. Were her rivals, the leaders of the school's reformist faction, successfully portrayed as at least a little bit more thoughtful about their political or cultural identities than Strauss, I would not hold this against the work as a whole, and yet this shallow meaning is in fact the deepest portrayed in the book. This is a pattern, unfortunately, that will be repeated.
A lot has rightly been made about queer identity in this book. While inherent and irreplaceable, it is not questioned as deeply as one might expect with a story that combines talk of Christian transcendence with homosexuality in the very same characters. Neither their Christianity nor their homosexuality is tackled; it is all vaguely brought up now and again through the more immediate off-and-on of toxic relationships which fill the pages. The author masters the boarding school aesthetic, and, in the deeper identity of whitewashed institutions, finds their depth, but in the other things which they tackle, there is a lot to be missed.
It's still a success on the author's part, I think, that I—generally hostile to boarding school-obsessed fiction, and not all that concerned with sexuality-driven characters—found so much to like about Laura and Virginia. Which is why the lack of depth in issues at their cores troubled me as much as it did; I desperately wanted to see them expressed more deeply, and in more ways than just the one.
The World Cannot Give is worth reading, even if it rests in a genre which evidently has many contributions that gate-keep newer entries like this from canon. I came for the deeper explorations I'd been told to expect from the author, and stayed as I simply loved what interaction we had with Laura Stearns and Virginia Strauss. Even as it left much to be desired, I am happy I took a chance on it.
The story thrives at its best with Virginia Strauss, the hypnotizing force of personality who, in all her brazen toxicity and authority, spearheads the plot of this narrative singlehandedly. And yet the very same character that forms the core of this book proves also to be the largest weight on its depth, as we quickly discover that even Strauss, the leader of 'thinking deeper about things,' has only a surface-level religion, surface-level philosophy, and surface-level politics which are all equally vibes-based on a shared fixation on a niche author. Were her rivals, the leaders of the school's reformist faction, successfully portrayed as at least a little bit more thoughtful about their political or cultural identities than Strauss, I would not hold this against the work as a whole, and yet this shallow meaning is in fact the deepest portrayed in the book. This is a pattern, unfortunately, that will be repeated.
A lot has rightly been made about queer identity in this book. While inherent and irreplaceable, it is not questioned as deeply as one might expect with a story that combines talk of Christian transcendence with homosexuality in the very same characters. Neither their Christianity nor their homosexuality is tackled; it is all vaguely brought up now and again through the more immediate off-and-on of toxic relationships which fill the pages. The author masters the boarding school aesthetic, and, in the deeper identity of whitewashed institutions, finds their depth, but in the other things which they tackle, there is a lot to be missed.
It's still a success on the author's part, I think, that I—generally hostile to boarding school-obsessed fiction, and not all that concerned with sexuality-driven characters—found so much to like about Laura and Virginia. Which is why the lack of depth in issues at their cores troubled me as much as it did; I desperately wanted to see them expressed more deeply, and in more ways than just the one.
The World Cannot Give is worth reading, even if it rests in a genre which evidently has many contributions that gate-keep newer entries like this from canon. I came for the deeper explorations I'd been told to expect from the author, and stayed as I simply loved what interaction we had with Laura Stearns and Virginia Strauss. Even as it left much to be desired, I am happy I took a chance on it.