Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Todos somos villanos by M.L. Rio

557 reviews

tovetott's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I may not know a single thing about Shakespeare (barely know how to spell the name sjsjsj 💀💀), and also have little to no theatre-knowledge, but my god

This was not an easy read, neither with all the Shakespeare-an lingo nor emotional turmoil, and I think I can count the pages I felt ~calm~ reading one (1) hand.

I also set a new record with how many journal entries I made on Storygraph while reading this. A whole 96 of them, filled with all-caps screaming "WHERE THE HELL IS [REDACTED]" and/or awe at the way M.L. Rio used words to convey certain feelings or moments ✨️BEAUTIFULLY✨️. The way this was written and formatted made me have to put the book down at multiple times to just breathe (looking at you, pages 172-173), and the parallels to the plays put on by the characters in the story made me absolutely lose my mind. This was also my first thriller in a while (if I've ever even read a proper thriller like this before ???) and I was on edge the entire time up until the very last word on the very last page (not an exaggeration). 

I bet this book hits even harder for Shakespearians and theatre people. I feel like I'm 🤏 this close to diving into it myself, but, considering how this story goes, maybe I shouldn't. Lol. 💀

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Eating disorder

111222333's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Moderate: Biphobia and Eating disorder

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book is exactly what it says on the tin, for good and for bad. After a somewhat slow climb, it gets exponentially more engaging in its back half, but it never quite feels like the throes of its passion are earned. It does get close at the end there, though. The biggest hurdle I encountered as a reader in 2024 is that the particular white wealthy 2017-flavor of pretentiousness of the characters leads to some… ickiness. Read the content warnings, I beg.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Murder, Death, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Alcohol, and Addiction

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Transphobia

abditoryalive's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder

taryn_g's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, and Eating disorder

bloodroses's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Eating disorder

komiification's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Definitely a good introduction to anyone interested in getting into literary fiction, particularly of the dark academia nature. A more fast-paced take on the same premise in The Secret History, yet distinctly stands apart from that story and takes on an artstyle of its own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Vomit and Eating disorder

Minor: Cursing, Alcoholism, and Sexual content

reading_bunny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My Ratings:
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

Favourite quote:

"You can justify anything of you do it poetically enough"
- Oliver Marks

Review/my thoughts:
This book took me a long time to read, partially because I went through and looked up every quote they mentioned, but also because the book was dense, the writing wasnt too hard to read through it was just a dense book.

I really enjoyed the story, and I thought it was paced nicely, only revealing informationto the reader as the characters learn about them which lends to the bizzying and disorienting feeling of the narrative.

The characters were all stellar, and Oliver's unreliability as a narrator was at times a little frustrating because I would have loved to learn a little more about the others but Oliver is fairly dismissive of a few if them for whatever his reasons. 

The relationship between

Oliver and James

was frustratingly beautiful to watch in all its agonizing glory as they danced around eachother and their feelings only realising too late that thwyr feelings were not only romantic but also requited.

Overall, this is not a book that I would re-read but it is one that I would recommend to someone who is very into Shakespeare and/or cannparse it well enough to understand the meaning of the prose, as well as those who are into the Dark academia aesthetic since this book is not only a corner stone of the genre/aesthetic but also because this is a lot like the secret history in its core expects 

In the end, an enjoyable experience and I'm glad I gave this book a chance and the time it deserved 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Murder, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Body shaming, Murder, Blood, Addiction, Death, and Sexism

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

gia0203's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

AAAA!!! I feel like I’ve been reading books so critically and seriously lately and somehow this book made me feel like I was 15 again, devouring a novel whole and feeling every single moment of it. I have the sudden urge to read all of Shakespeare’s plays and start speaking in verse. What a treat. And the yearning at the heart of the story… It’s subtly teased and then it hits you at last and it’s wonderful. I love codependent, homoerotic friendships in fiction. 

This book is not very original. It borrows a lot from existing dark academia, obviously The Secret History being the main one. I do think though that the writing style makes up for its originality. It’s so lively and fun! And the characters too are so interesting and so sympathetic. A new favourite of mine for sure. I loved the twist at the end and the rising hysteria and ugh. Stunning. 

On another note… the male characters in this book are very complex and well developed and the female characters are very wooden, particularly Meredith. She faces a lot of misogyny and her character revolves so much around the men in her life. Just something to think about in terms of female representation, especially when written as “competition” in relation to queer men. Not quite sure if this book passes the Beschdel test. If not for this, it would be a 5 star for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Sexual harassment

fuqing_god's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Drug abuse

Minor: Eating disorder, Alcohol, and Suicide