Scan barcode
A review by _lunaria_
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
reflective
slow-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
1.5
I don't know what to say. Or better said, I know what to say, I just don't know how to say it.
This book has a very good rating on both 'goodreads' & 'storygraph', the majority of reviews or comments I read on this book are incredibly positive. But I, personally, just can't grasp the 'why' of it. I'll try to put it as vaguely as possible as I don't want to accidentally spoil the book for anyone who wants to read it & is just browsing the reviews before getting it:
Alright, so - the book couldn't hold my attention. I spent a lot of energy just trying to focus on it. I think the reason for this has mostly to do with both the writing & the conversations between the characters sounding very pretentious.
There's also a lot of text from Shakespeare's plays - which is both because the characters are performing them and because they have a habit of quoting him every chance they get (and even lead parts of their conversations only with these quotes). I completely understand that since they're learning to be actors having a few chapters about them performing are inevitable. But that, in combination with their constant quoting, felt to me like they were endlessly performing, that I never met the true characters in the story. There was a chapter where one of their teachers told them that during their performances, they show half of them, too, but that everyone's scared of showing themselves; I can see this in connection with me feeling like I never got to know the characters, and I think in a book that had a more elaborate storyline (I'll get to this in a bit), that would have been really cool. But here, if that's what Rio meant to do, it would just seem unnecessary. And if it is just a coincidence, then this just comes right back to the writing & conversations feeling pretentious.
Next and last thing, the storyline. The way it would play out has been clear from the beginning. Being vague so as not to spoil, you'll quickly figure out who will die, you'll quickly know the 'secret' dynamics between the characters, and you'll quickly understand why the main character ends up in jail. Personally, I think all of them should have ended up there, although this is something I won't elaborate on as it would just make me rant for longer than I already have here; first about morality, and then about everything else I think was overdone in the plotline, but also how most of the book was about the interpersonal relationships between the characters rather than the 'big mystery', how everything felt so slow, and how I think that none of that would have needed to play out the way it did (especially the ending - I mean really. Really??).
This came out a bit jumbled, sorry. But I've just finished reading this book and I haven't sorted my thoughts yet, so this is the best I can do for now. Could be that I'll come back and edit this later when my opinion has become clearer to me.
This book has a very good rating on both 'goodreads' & 'storygraph', the majority of reviews or comments I read on this book are incredibly positive. But I, personally, just can't grasp the 'why' of it. I'll try to put it as vaguely as possible as I don't want to accidentally spoil the book for anyone who wants to read it & is just browsing the reviews before getting it:
Alright, so - the book couldn't hold my attention. I spent a lot of energy just trying to focus on it. I think the reason for this has mostly to do with both the writing & the conversations between the characters sounding very pretentious.
There's also a lot of text from Shakespeare's plays - which is both because the characters are performing them and because they have a habit of quoting him every chance they get (and even lead parts of their conversations only with these quotes). I completely understand that since they're learning to be actors having a few chapters about them performing are inevitable. But that, in combination with their constant quoting, felt to me like they were endlessly performing, that I never met the true characters in the story. There was a chapter where one of their teachers told them that during their performances, they show half of them, too, but that everyone's scared of showing themselves; I can see this in connection with me feeling like I never got to know the characters, and I think in a book that had a more elaborate storyline (I'll get to this in a bit), that would have been really cool. But here, if that's what Rio meant to do, it would just seem unnecessary. And if it is just a coincidence, then this just comes right back to the writing & conversations feeling pretentious.
Next and last thing, the storyline. The way it would play out has been clear from the beginning. Being vague so as not to spoil, you'll quickly figure out who will die, you'll quickly know the 'secret' dynamics between the characters, and you'll quickly understand why the main character ends up in jail. Personally, I think all of them should have ended up there, although this is something I won't elaborate on as it would just make me rant for longer than I already have here; first about morality, and then about everything else I think was overdone in the plotline, but also how most of the book was about the interpersonal relationships between the characters rather than the 'big mystery', how everything felt so slow, and how I think that none of that would have needed to play out the way it did (especially the ending - I mean really. Really??).
This came out a bit jumbled, sorry. But I've just finished reading this book and I haven't sorted my thoughts yet, so this is the best I can do for now. Could be that I'll come back and edit this later when my opinion has become clearer to me.