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A review by roaming_library
The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton
3.0
A fairly interesting criticism of academia that ultimately left me wanting more.
The World Cannot Give has an interesting premise and an engaging writing style that helped pull me into the story. I liked the consistency of the atmosphere, and I liked the way intensity built over the course of the story.
I did have some problems with the actual execution of the premise and the way the book attempts to engage with its own themes. I feel like the criticism of academia presented in the book are fairly surface level--pretty much just pointing out that they exist without saying anything new about it. I was a fairly simple observation--that it can be elitist and exclusionary, and that (shockingly) people that cling to 'tradition' might just not be the most open and accepting people.
Similarly, a lot of this book hinges on the belief that Virginia holds some sway and power--but I can't buy it. I cannot for the life of me see what about her is supposed to be so magnetic. The narrative tells us that people hate Virginia, but also that people love her, or at least revere her? In the world of the story, she is not interesting enough to hold attention, and as a character she tells me nothing about the overall themes in the story. She just isn't complex enough for me. Her and Bonnie are supposed to represent opposite sides of the same problem, I suppose. With the whole identifying yourself with an ideology or aesthetic and losing yourself to that. But it didn't go deep enough.
And I think that was my overall problem with the book. It is not as complex as it wants to be. It's bones are all there, but it just need a little bit more to be substantial. I can see where Burton was going, we just never reached our destination. It was not the dark academia I was looking for.
That being said, I did not hate the book by any means. Burton is clearly a talented writer, her prose is engaging. And I like the ambition. I am interested to see what else she writes or has written.
The World Cannot Give has an interesting premise and an engaging writing style that helped pull me into the story. I liked the consistency of the atmosphere, and I liked the way intensity built over the course of the story.
I did have some problems with the actual execution of the premise and the way the book attempts to engage with its own themes. I feel like the criticism of academia presented in the book are fairly surface level--pretty much just pointing out that they exist without saying anything new about it. I was a fairly simple observation--that it can be elitist and exclusionary, and that (shockingly) people that cling to 'tradition' might just not be the most open and accepting people.
Similarly, a lot of this book hinges on the belief that Virginia holds some sway and power--but I can't buy it. I cannot for the life of me see what about her is supposed to be so magnetic.
Spoiler
like to the point where she could convince a staunch independent feminist to kill a bunch of people and then herself??)And I think that was my overall problem with the book. It is not as complex as it wants to be. It's bones are all there, but it just need a little bit more to be substantial. I can see where Burton was going, we just never reached our destination. It was not the dark academia I was looking for.
That being said, I did not hate the book by any means. Burton is clearly a talented writer, her prose is engaging. And I like the ambition. I am interested to see what else she writes or has written.