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A review by hannahpeterson
The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton
3.0
I won a Goodreads giveaway for this book which was fun and unexpected so here is my review!
I'm still ruminating on this book but overall I liked it. It took a little bit to really get going but I found the last half hard to put down and I was so excited to see how it would end. I enjoyed the overall vibe and setting but have complicated feelings about the characters themselves. The writing was good and there were some really beautiful lines throughout, even when some phrases became repetitive (which I think was the point). The examination of being a teen who feels everything so deeply and just wants something greater and to be important, along with the relationship between Laura and Virginia, is the greatest strength of this book to me. However, the thing that intrigued me most was the description of it being about "queer desire and religious zealotry" and maybe I just went in expecting something different, but I found there was a bit left to be desired on both those fronts.
These are some pretentious ass rich kids. I haven't really read any dark academia books, so maybe this is to be expected, but the way they spout literary reference after literary reference and say so much without saying anything took some getting used to. At first I was like, "Am I stupid?" but then I realized, no, these are fake deep 16 year olds who desperately want to seem intellectual and important, just as I was at one point. I also was once a teen who had friends that I desperately wanted to like me even when they were awful or indifferent, so I related to Laura's sensitivity, introversion and naivety, and it was surprisingly emotional to be put back in the mindset. As she fell more and more into Virginia's traps it became more difficult and frustrating, but I still empathized.
As I said before, the greatest strength of this book is definitely the toxic relationship between Virginia and Laura and Laura's one-sided obsession and gay yearning that she doesn't recognize for what it is at first. There is very much an element of "Do I want her or do I want to be her?" which was interesting and, again, relatable. But I think I just wanted more to come of this.
Virginia was intriguing, as I love a good "I support women's rights but I also support women's wrongs", and her dastardly plans were entertaining at some points, but the way she spoke became exhausting pretty quickly and I was confused by her motivations at times, especially near the end. We see hints of a troubled home life, but I wish we would have gotten a little more backstory, same goes for Laura. I also would not describe her as a "religious zealot", as her discussions about God are fairly vague and her beliefs really only present themselves in her participation in the choir, wanting to be baptized and her disdain and judgment for other people having sex. Then again, maybe that's an accurate representation of religious zealots after all. I think I just expected more from the religious themes as a whole, especially along with an exploration of queerness. The real religion in this book is the worship of the author Sebastian Webster and Virginia. In the same vein, I enjoyed the vibe of the seaside Maine boarding school setting, but I was hoping for it to be a little spookier since the description mentions crypts, cults and arcane rituals, which it does have, to be fair, just not as much as I would have liked.
I wanted to see more of Isobel, the lesbian, feminist, rebellious Janis Ian to Virginia's Regina George, but the way her story played out was disappointing. It's mostly through her that we examine the problematic roots of institutions like the school they attend and the people like Sebastian Webster, and Laura grappling with that along with her feelings for Virginia was very poignant and interesting. The choir boys were mostly indistinguishable from one another, as I found myself asking, "Wait, which one is that?" even at the end of the book and I simply did not care about them. One was just a biohacking gym bro and one's entire personality was just calling things "cringe" and now I'm questioning if that was actually the same one. It's hard to talk about their development without major spoilers but suffice it to say I did not like them. Other minor characters were pretty one dimensional, including Instagram influencer Bonnie (who struck me as a less scammy Caroline Calloway) but who I was surprisingly rooting for at one point.
The ending did legitimately surprise me and was exciting and affecting but also felt rushed. Some events that had to happen in order to pave the way seemed a little out of character as well. But despite all my complaints (reading this back it comes off more negative than I meant it to, oops) I was satisfied and happy to have read this. It was an interesting world to live in for 300 pages and definitely captured how important everything feels as a teenager and how that can turn dark quickly. If you're considering reading this I think it's worth it, but I would just manage your expectations, as I think some of the descriptions had me expecting something different than what it was.
I'm still ruminating on this book but overall I liked it. It took a little bit to really get going but I found the last half hard to put down and I was so excited to see how it would end. I enjoyed the overall vibe and setting but have complicated feelings about the characters themselves. The writing was good and there were some really beautiful lines throughout, even when some phrases became repetitive (which I think was the point). The examination of being a teen who feels everything so deeply and just wants something greater and to be important, along with the relationship between Laura and Virginia, is the greatest strength of this book to me. However, the thing that intrigued me most was the description of it being about "queer desire and religious zealotry" and maybe I just went in expecting something different, but I found there was a bit left to be desired on both those fronts.
These are some pretentious ass rich kids. I haven't really read any dark academia books, so maybe this is to be expected, but the way they spout literary reference after literary reference and say so much without saying anything took some getting used to. At first I was like, "Am I stupid?" but then I realized, no, these are fake deep 16 year olds who desperately want to seem intellectual and important, just as I was at one point. I also was once a teen who had friends that I desperately wanted to like me even when they were awful or indifferent, so I related to Laura's sensitivity, introversion and naivety, and it was surprisingly emotional to be put back in the mindset. As she fell more and more into Virginia's traps it became more difficult and frustrating, but I still empathized.
As I said before, the greatest strength of this book is definitely the toxic relationship between Virginia and Laura and Laura's one-sided obsession and gay yearning that she doesn't recognize for what it is at first. There is very much an element of "Do I want her or do I want to be her?" which was interesting and, again, relatable. But I think I just wanted more to come of this.
Spoiler
Virginia is very aware of and relishes in the fact that everyone is in love with her, but Laura's feelings for her are never addressed by her directly until maybe the very end in a way that was pretty unsatisfying.Virginia was intriguing, as I love a good "I support women's rights but I also support women's wrongs", and her dastardly plans were entertaining at some points, but the way she spoke became exhausting pretty quickly and I was confused by her motivations at times, especially near the end. We see hints of a troubled home life, but I wish we would have gotten a little more backstory, same goes for Laura. I also would not describe her as a "religious zealot", as her discussions about God are fairly vague and her beliefs really only present themselves in her participation in the choir, wanting to be baptized and her disdain and judgment for other people having sex. Then again, maybe that's an accurate representation of religious zealots after all. I think I just expected more from the religious themes as a whole, especially along with an exploration of queerness. The real religion in this book is the worship of the author Sebastian Webster and Virginia. In the same vein, I enjoyed the vibe of the seaside Maine boarding school setting, but I was hoping for it to be a little spookier since the description mentions crypts, cults and arcane rituals, which it does have, to be fair, just not as much as I would have liked.
I wanted to see more of Isobel, the lesbian, feminist, rebellious Janis Ian to Virginia's Regina George, but the way her story played out was disappointing. It's mostly through her that we examine the problematic roots of institutions like the school they attend and the people like Sebastian Webster, and Laura grappling with that along with her feelings for Virginia was very poignant and interesting. The choir boys were mostly indistinguishable from one another, as I found myself asking, "Wait, which one is that?" even at the end of the book and I simply did not care about them. One was just a biohacking gym bro and one's entire personality was just calling things "cringe" and now I'm questioning if that was actually the same one. It's hard to talk about their development without major spoilers but suffice it to say I did not like them. Other minor characters were pretty one dimensional, including Instagram influencer Bonnie (who struck me as a less scammy Caroline Calloway) but who I was surprisingly rooting for at one point.
The ending did legitimately surprise me and was exciting and affecting but also felt rushed. Some events that had to happen in order to pave the way seemed a little out of character as well. But despite all my complaints (reading this back it comes off more negative than I meant it to, oops) I was satisfied and happy to have read this. It was an interesting world to live in for 300 pages and definitely captured how important everything feels as a teenager and how that can turn dark quickly. If you're considering reading this I think it's worth it, but I would just manage your expectations, as I think some of the descriptions had me expecting something different than what it was.