If We Were Villains A Novel M L Rio 9781250095282 Books
Download As PDF : If We Were Villains A Novel M L Rio 9781250095282 Books
“Much like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, M. L. Rio’s sparkling debut is a richly layered story of love, friendship, and obsession...will keep you riveted through its final, electrifying moments.”
―Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest
"Nerdily (and winningly) in love with Shakespeare…Readable, smart.”
―New York Times Book Review
On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it.
A decade ago Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras.
But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent.
If We Were Villains was named one of Bustle's Best Thriller Novels of the Year, and Mystery Scene says, "A well-written and gripping ode to the stage...A fascinating, unorthodox take on rivalry, friendship, and truth."
If We Were Villains A Novel M L Rio 9781250095282 Books
I will preface this with saying there are likely to be a few (probably more) grammatical errors in this review. I apologize in advance.This debut novel by M.L. Rio is not bad overall, but it isn't what I would consider great or compelling. By now it has been compared to that stunning novel "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt too many times, and while the comparison is fair on the points of pretentious students dedicated to a literary subject to the point of obsession who also commit murderous crimes, this book falls flat in many ways where "The Secret History" shines.
"If We Were Villains" often felt murky at times. The murder still seems a bit excessive, and that plot point was not well developed. I understand that the person murdered became a violent hassle to deal with, but the reasoning behind why he became a violent hassle did not seem believable, making the whole novel feel lacking of a significant motive. Nor did it seem like the group was ever one "big family" with him included. It was a lot more telling than showing when it came to the characters' involvement with each other. This, to me, is where I simply could not get into the grove of the book. It is readable, for the most part (I will get to my love and contentions with the use of Shakespeare later), but even with its readability, the feelings of annoyance would settle in, and I began reading just to finish it. As someone who believes the best part of of any literary work is the journey, not the end, I was not happy that this book started to feel like a chore. The chore aspect of the novel was not that it is a challenging read, because I wouldn't classify it as such, but that the characters and the story began to be a bore given that the end is a bit predictable and the characters are extremely unlikable.
The use of Shakespeare, that began to feel dominating, throughout the book could be exhausting for some. I actually enjoyed it, mostly, seeing that Shakespeare wrote about seemingly every aspect of humanity and his words are always poignant. The quotes were always fitting, but my enjoyment was more admiration for The Bard than the actual plot device. I must say that Rio is clearly versed in Shakespeare, and that is an exceptional thing in and of itself, but the constant use of Shakespeare did begin to feel gimmicky after a while. It is a very esoteric group of literati who go around quoting Shakespeare in everyday conversation, and while the idea of humans that pretentious does delight me, having to read interjections of Shakespeare in what felt like every other paragraph got to be a little grating. "Brevity is the soul of wit."
Overall, the book does a fine job of story-telling, though it is not always enjoyable or interesting. I give it three stars because it isn't so awful that I have to throw it across the room, and Rio can write (much better than this reviewer), and I give a point for it being Shakespearean. I would recommend it to people who just have to read something similar to "The Secret History", but I do think there will be a level of disappointment with the recommendation. Naturally, I am going to suggest just picking up "The Secret History" over "If We Were Villains" if someone is looking for an academic mystery (rather mystery set in an academic setting) filled with pretentious but erudite students. I think all of us who have read both books can, without any hesitancy, say that Tartt does a much better job of developing the characters, plot, and atmosphere. But I honestly don't think it is far to compare Rio's writing with Tartt's, even if the basis of both debut novels are similar.
"If We Were Villains" is a book that had enough hype surrounding it to read it, but it is not worth a re-read.
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If We Were Villains A Novel M L Rio 9781250095282 Books Reviews
This is one of the best books I've read in 2018. I see there are some wildly divergent reviews, so I will go into more detail than I usually do about the things I liked. First of all the Shakespeare. I found the use of direct quotes, adapted quotes, performance, and homage richly compelling. I have spent time in the type of environment that serves as the setting for this story, and I know how emotionally rewarding it can be to fully immerse one's self in an obsession, particularly in the company of other obsessives. In the book, this is described as an addiction, and while I am not (to my knowledge) addicted to anything except reading, I can accept the description.
I do not ordinarily choose books about college-age protagonists. The setting of this book, however, is no ordinary college, and the experience of these protagonists (while it certainly includes stereotypical collegiate overindulgences) has nothing to do with the stereotypical American college experience, i.e. it has nothing to do with sports, inter-school rivalries, or other externalities. The experience here is about the delirious satisfaction of constantly creating, constantly discovering, constantly learning. Of course, not everything we learn is pleasant. Sometimes, what we learn is acutely painful. That's life.
The mystery in this book is not a conventional murder mystery. The structure of the book allows for a slow unveiling of the characters and their milieu, which makes the eventual "reveal" inevitable. It is not contrived. It is, in fact, completely true to what we learn about the characters. We do not have a "villain" in the conventional sense, who deliberately committed a crime in order to gain something. What we do have is a group of people bound by mutual love of their subject and, in most cases, by degrees of love for each other.
"If We Were Villains" has been compared to "The Secret History," which is a book I have not read. I didn't read it because of points revealed in reviews that made me think I wouldn't like it. If it deals as well with truth and consequences as this book, however, maybe I should have given it a try.
I will preface this with saying there are likely to be a few (probably more) grammatical errors in this review. I apologize in advance.
This debut novel by M.L. Rio is not bad overall, but it isn't what I would consider great or compelling. By now it has been compared to that stunning novel "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt too many times, and while the comparison is fair on the points of pretentious students dedicated to a literary subject to the point of obsession who also commit murderous crimes, this book falls flat in many ways where "The Secret History" shines.
"If We Were Villains" often felt murky at times. The murder still seems a bit excessive, and that plot point was not well developed. I understand that the person murdered became a violent hassle to deal with, but the reasoning behind why he became a violent hassle did not seem believable, making the whole novel feel lacking of a significant motive. Nor did it seem like the group was ever one "big family" with him included. It was a lot more telling than showing when it came to the characters' involvement with each other. This, to me, is where I simply could not get into the grove of the book. It is readable, for the most part (I will get to my love and contentions with the use of Shakespeare later), but even with its readability, the feelings of annoyance would settle in, and I began reading just to finish it. As someone who believes the best part of of any literary work is the journey, not the end, I was not happy that this book started to feel like a chore. The chore aspect of the novel was not that it is a challenging read, because I wouldn't classify it as such, but that the characters and the story began to be a bore given that the end is a bit predictable and the characters are extremely unlikable.
The use of Shakespeare, that began to feel dominating, throughout the book could be exhausting for some. I actually enjoyed it, mostly, seeing that Shakespeare wrote about seemingly every aspect of humanity and his words are always poignant. The quotes were always fitting, but my enjoyment was more admiration for The Bard than the actual plot device. I must say that Rio is clearly versed in Shakespeare, and that is an exceptional thing in and of itself, but the constant use of Shakespeare did begin to feel gimmicky after a while. It is a very esoteric group of literati who go around quoting Shakespeare in everyday conversation, and while the idea of humans that pretentious does delight me, having to read interjections of Shakespeare in what felt like every other paragraph got to be a little grating. "Brevity is the soul of wit."
Overall, the book does a fine job of story-telling, though it is not always enjoyable or interesting. I give it three stars because it isn't so awful that I have to throw it across the room, and Rio can write (much better than this reviewer), and I give a point for it being Shakespearean. I would recommend it to people who just have to read something similar to "The Secret History", but I do think there will be a level of disappointment with the recommendation. Naturally, I am going to suggest just picking up "The Secret History" over "If We Were Villains" if someone is looking for an academic mystery (rather mystery set in an academic setting) filled with pretentious but erudite students. I think all of us who have read both books can, without any hesitancy, say that Tartt does a much better job of developing the characters, plot, and atmosphere. But I honestly don't think it is far to compare Rio's writing with Tartt's, even if the basis of both debut novels are similar.
"If We Were Villains" is a book that had enough hype surrounding it to read it, but it is not worth a re-read.
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