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elloen's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
theelliad's review against another edition
4.0
A perfect start to dark academia season! This book is a perfect middle ground of the dislikable elite of the secret history and the drama and ya dynamics of if we were villains! The audiobook for this was so wacky which fed the obsession massively. This follows Clare a history of art student in edinburgh (YES I KNOW SCOTLAND) as her past and present mistakes are revealed, immersing the reader in scottish landscape/culture, teenage girlhood, violence, revenge and betrayal! My main complaint is the lack of any academia structuring- the university serves as the setting but not much more, there aren’t the clever references of TSH and IWWV hence the lower rating
nzap89's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
vickybignasco001's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
linaleigh's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
gretairn's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
khadijah98's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
gafforama's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
3.5
Unsettling, but a bit confusing and muddled in the last act.
afterplague's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Unfortunately I was a little disappointed by The Things We Do to Our Friends. I had really high hopes because this sounded like a dark academia coded mean girls, and there were some parts that met that expectation but I think that the novel ended up being less than the sum of its parts.
The main character is Clare, and she's a character who doesn't seem to know how to act "normal." Now, I thought she was just an autistic woman, but that is unfortunately not the case. I kind of like that's not the route the author chose to go down, but I feel like the ending she chose was actually more predictable? I'd be interested to hear from others about that. Clare is leaving for university, and she's desperate to make friends when she's drawn in by the whirlwind that is Tabitha.
Okay, I listened to the audiobook recording and it is one of the worst narrations I've ever heard. I'm so sorry. I know that it's a hard job to narrate an audiobook and make each character distinct, but I completely couldn't stand how for Tabitha the narrator was always shouting and how one of the other main characters had such a nasally voice. Genuinely, I've never considered DNFing a book based on the narrator until now.
The characters are a little strange. They all circle around Tabitha, desperately begging for her approval and we never really understand why. She just has this unbeatable charisma, like a force of nature, and everyone seems to go along with it. As a reader, I was never really caught up in that charisma. Every time someone begged for Tabitha's attention, I couldn't understand why? She was also portrayed as kind of dangerous and sadistic with no real empathy towards others which I did enjoy. Psychopathic women are my kryptonite. She never really had that coldness you would expect from that kind of character. Tabitha was more whiny, like a child at points.
I'm going to go into some spoilers. Be warned.
So through the first half of the book, the Shiver, which is what Clare called this group of friends, keeps talking about a project. Tabitha seems to be the only one who knows the details and she decides to reveal it to them all on a vacation to France. Tabitha wants them to run a business together honey-trapping men. Essentially, Tabitha and Clare would be hired by married women to loyalty test their husbands.
This is a pretty morally-grey thing to do. It's not like they force the men to cheat with them, so ultimately it is up to him to maintain their vows. It does feel a little wrong, though, because of how interested Tabby is in the process. She becomes more enraged when some of the wives decide not to leave their husbands when they're found cheating, and she even goes so far as to try to ruin one man's life by saying he kissed a fifteen year old girl.
Eventually, the group goes after a target that is too dangerous. Clare gets attacked and choked, and then she finds out that Ava, another of the Shiver, and Tabby knew that this guy was dangerous all along. Clare decides she wants to leave the business and Tabby promises to make it up to her. The way she does that is by hunting the man down and video taping humiliating him and forcing him to climb into the corpse of a pig. Clare is extremely put off by this, especially because Tabby and Clare look identical from the back and Tabby changed her voice to sound like Clare.
Clare also has a secret from her past. She and her friends, when they were sixteen, drugged a man, force fed him, and then Clare suffocated him to death. They claimed he had kidnapped them, and all the girls were acquitted and given new identities. Tabby has hinted that she knows about this secret, and Ava has said she does, so Clare is extremely frightened that this is going to be revealed and she'll lose her new life, and now that video makes her look unremorseful.
In the end, she pushes Tabitha off a roof while they're dancing. Ava is there, and she sees everything happen. Ava lies for Clare saying that Tabby slipped, and Ava reveal Tabitha never knew Clare's secret. I had guessed this twist and wasn't really surprised by it. Tabby is in a coma, and Clare takes over the business with Ava.
I know that’s a lot of spoilers. Honestly, my review for this book is extremely chaotic. I really wanted to like it. I love rich, snobby college students falling to pieces. I love Regina George, and once more I LOVE female psychopaths. I just was not vibing with this book. The writing was good at times, but I never really felt immersed in the story.
I kind of liked the ending. It seemed like a fitting end for Clare if not a good one.
The main character is Clare, and she's a character who doesn't seem to know how to act "normal." Now, I thought she was just an autistic woman, but that is unfortunately not the case. I kind of like that's not the route the author chose to go down, but I feel like the ending she chose was actually more predictable? I'd be interested to hear from others about that. Clare is leaving for university, and she's desperate to make friends when she's drawn in by the whirlwind that is Tabitha.
Okay, I listened to the audiobook recording and it is one of the worst narrations I've ever heard. I'm so sorry. I know that it's a hard job to narrate an audiobook and make each character distinct, but I completely couldn't stand how for Tabitha the narrator was always shouting and how one of the other main characters had such a nasally voice. Genuinely, I've never considered DNFing a book based on the narrator until now.
The characters are a little strange. They all circle around Tabitha, desperately begging for her approval and we never really understand why. She just has this unbeatable charisma, like a force of nature, and everyone seems to go along with it. As a reader, I was never really caught up in that charisma. Every time someone begged for Tabitha's attention, I couldn't understand why? She was also portrayed as kind of dangerous and sadistic with no real empathy towards others which I did enjoy. Psychopathic women are my kryptonite. She never really had that coldness you would expect from that kind of character. Tabitha was more whiny, like a child at points.
I'm going to go into some spoilers. Be warned.
This is a pretty morally-grey thing to do. It's not like they force the men to cheat with them, so ultimately it is up to him to maintain their vows. It does feel a little wrong, though, because of how interested Tabby is in the process. She becomes more enraged when some of the wives decide not to leave their husbands when they're found cheating, and she even goes so far as to try to ruin one man's life by saying he kissed a fifteen year old girl.
Eventually, the group goes after a target that is too dangerous. Clare gets attacked and choked, and then she finds out that Ava, another of the Shiver, and Tabby knew that this guy was dangerous all along. Clare decides she wants to leave the business and Tabby promises to make it up to her. The way she does that is by hunting the man down and video taping humiliating him and forcing him to climb into the corpse of a pig. Clare is extremely put off by this, especially because Tabby and Clare look identical from the back and Tabby changed her voice to sound like Clare.
Clare also has a secret from her past. She and her friends, when they were sixteen, drugged a man, force fed him, and then Clare suffocated him to death. They claimed he had kidnapped them, and all the girls were acquitted and given new identities. Tabby has hinted that she knows about this secret, and Ava has said she does, so Clare is extremely frightened that this is going to be revealed and she'll lose her new life, and now that video makes her look unremorseful.
In the end, she pushes Tabitha off a roof while they're dancing. Ava is there, and she sees everything happen. Ava lies for Clare saying that Tabby slipped, and Ava reveal Tabitha never knew Clare's secret. I had guessed this twist and wasn't really surprised by it. Tabby is in a coma, and Clare takes over the business with Ava.
I know that’s a lot of spoilers. Honestly, my review for this book is extremely chaotic. I really wanted to like it. I love rich, snobby college students falling to pieces. I love Regina George, and once more I LOVE female psychopaths. I just was not vibing with this book. The writing was good at times, but I never really felt immersed in the story.
I kind of liked the ending. It seemed like a fitting end for Clare if not a good one.