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

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She holds a master's degree in Shakespeare Studies from King's College London and Shakespeare's Globe. But then again, it had to be someone so there couldn't really have been any other ending without it becoming unrealistic, so I think it was done well. It warns you about abuse, about obsession, about death and about the decisions we can make avoid certain situations; it is about what love looks like – it might be a friend, it might be a sister, it might be loyalty, in the end. The quotes she chose are so basic, it's really quite sad when you think of the deepness and richness of Shakespeare's complete work.

If We Were Villains - 5th anniversary signed - Waterstones If We Were Villains - 5th anniversary signed - Waterstones

If We Were Villains is the story of a tightly knit group of seven lyric-mad Shakespearean thespians who seem to prefer each other’s company to anyone else’s, thereby offending the rest of the world. its quite clever and beyond invigorating - the type of book that fully immerses you whilst reading it.Yet, as undeniably powerful as Shakespeare’s works are, the worlds he depicts are full of dark passions. And you know what, this book would have been a five no matter how it ended, but the ending made me screech out loud. 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. 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). The moral outrage we should have suffered was quietly put down, surpassed like an unpleasant rumor before it had a chance to be heard.

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

And so begins a tale of friends who attend an elite acting school for Shakespeare, where the characters and words they become every day start to distort their own perceptions of themselves. After all, Shakespeare is poetry—most of it, anyway— and there’s a certain mathematical pattern to poetry, isn’t there? They limp through the Romeo and Juliet performance, their relationships fragile and tense, although King Lear proves their final undoing. If We Were Villains makes sense if you haven't read Shakespeare, but I think it's enriched in a huge way if you HAVE read his works. In the end, it doesn’t matter you enjoy the drama, because everything turns into a careful tragic masterpiece with no chance of changing its ending.This was literally: The Secret History VS If We Were Villains, and obviously for me, the former wins with a BIG SLAP across the face against IWWV. Also, why are the people praising the ending of this book for how romantic it is the same people who condemn Sam Pepper for his 'Killing Best Friend Prank' . I loved the way the author translated the contemporary idolisation of Shakespeare into something so dark and twisted. All that to say, I would still recommend this book, especially if you are looking for something quick and thrilling to get you out of a reading slump. Suspicious of the official story, Colborne announces his retirement from the police force and asks Oliver to finally tell him the truth.

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

Also, imagine thinking for six fucking years that the love of your life has forgotten about you and moved on because they stopped visiting you in prison, when in reality they’ve… FAKED their death. Oliver recognizes it as a monologue from Pericles, Prince of Tyre, in which Pericles laments the apparent death of his wife, Thaisa, in the middle of a storm at sea. Whatever we did—or, more crucially, did not do— it seemed that so no so long as we did it together, our individual sins might be abated. 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!I am not saying that Rio doesn't know her shit when it comes to Shakespeare, but she clearly didn't display that knowledge in If We Were Villains. One thing I really liked was how the characters typecasts in terms of Shakespeare plays both informed and distorted their characterisation.