If We Were Villains: The Sensational TikTok Book Club pick: M.L. Rio

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The mystery behind the murder was so predictable, it is a joke that it was dragged out for three acts. If you’re looking for something haunting, and thrilling, and so very atmospheric, then please give If We Were Villains a try. As the novel makes clear, this can be dangerous, perhaps especially for people who have yet to reach full maturity.

If We Were Villains: Character List | SparkNotes If We Were Villains: Character List | SparkNotes

their development and depth was so mesmerizing and i couldn’t help but be amazed by the foreshadowing of each characters fate.When Oliver’s holiday plans to visit Meredith in New York are derailed by an unexpected visit from James, Meredith is upset that Oliver chooses James over her, a frequent point of contention. Close friends, they can easily anticipate their roles based on previous castings, even before their auditions: Richard will be Caesar; James will play Brutus; Alexander, Cassius; Oliver will be Octavius; Meredith’s role will be Calpurnia; Wren will play Portia; and Filippa will be in drag, playing multiple male characters. I thought the way she undermined but also played into the stereotypes - from tragic hero, to the seductress, to funny sidekick, to loyal best friend - was really interesting, and a way of drawing out characterisation I really haven't seen before. As the novel makes abundantly clear, it is often difficult to determine what should count as a crime.

If We Were Villains: The sensational TikTok Book Club pick If We Were Villains: The sensational TikTok Book Club pick

Anyways, if you like atmospheric books, angst, the secret history, shakespeare, shaky friendships, and drama, you should read this book. The complete disregard of consistency when it came to her character's personality and actions is baffling to me. Oliver Marks, the main character, believes himself to be the least talented member of the acting troupe, a middle child whose father is vehemently opposed to him becoming an actor. A good Shakespearian actor - a good actor of any stripe, really - doesn’t just say words, he feels them. I loved this book very much, as I love anything that even slightly reminds me of The Secret History, and anything that invests me insanely in a set of annoying (at best) or criminal (at worst) characters, and anything with a plot so twisty and intense that it makes my heart beat faster, and anything whose ending I dread (even as I found the book less and less interesting as it went on).At the same time, however, his actions do not seem to warrant death, and it is somewhat shocking when his classmates are willing to allow him to die so easily. At the same time, the seven main characters, including the one who dies, are joined together in complex relationships of friendship and love and part of the work of the novel is to explore the differences between these forms of affective connections.

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio | Waterstones If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio | Waterstones

I loved getting to know the characters; I found the setting and atmosphere very palpable and moody (it mostly takes place on a college campus in the late 1990's); and the Shakespearean elements were fun because I'd studied his work quite a bit in school. Frightened and exhausted of Richard’s abuse, the six collectively decide to let him die in the water, assuming that he injured himself while intoxicated. In conclusion, I am once again appalled that I'm not part of a tight-knit group of morally bankrupt Shakespeare devotees who sport an unhealthy obsession with aesthetics and together try to cover up a murder one of them committed. At first, I do think they're a bit stereotypical and cliche, but I thought Rio did a good job at exploring these cliches, and analysing why and how people categorise characters and people.

There was a lot of building tension and intrigue throughout the story, though I felt the plot twist and the murder’s identity were predictable. The lead investigator on his case ten years ago, who has now quit the police, begs Oliver to reveal the truth of what happened on the fateful party that landed Oliver in prison ten years ago. To immerse oneself in his tragedies, as the group does for their final year, is to constantly confront the worst elements of the human psyche. For years, Thaisa lives hidden away from the rest of society as a priestess, believing her husband to have died in the storm, until the goddess Diana helps them reunite.

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio | Goodreads If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio | Goodreads

how they integrate his language into their own interactions, making their own lives a work of poetry in the process, is very inspiring. Shakespearian aesthetics, academic setting, homoeroticism, a secret society whose members communicate (pretentiously) through literary quotes, characters doing morally dubious things at odd hours, a devastating murder, and M. If anyone tries to pry away from me the fact that James is somewhere waiting for Oliver to find him, it could only be from my cold, dead hands, and you’d catch these hands from the grave! In 2016 she won a contest to stay in Hamlet's Castle at Elsinore for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, where she was the first person to sleep in the castle in over 100 years. The evening before he is due to be released on parole after serving ten years for an unspecified crime, Oliver Marks is approached by the lead investigator on his case, Detective Colborne.The plot twists had me shocked and kept me up late at night and i loved Oliver and his sweet obliviousness. C., but she is terrible at updating online bios, so this information will probably be outdated by the time you read it. And by 50% of the way through the story I figured out the 'plot twist' which made reading the last half less exciting. Actors are by nature volatile—alchemic creatures composed of incendiary elements, emotion and ego and envy. Now, ten years later, detective Colborne feels every choice he’d made, every action he took that fatal night, as a weight he carries with him.