laurenpwallis's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
katdid's review
3.0
I loved Social Creature but this didn't quite hit the mark for me, I just couldn't buy into Virginia being that hot and charismatic.
lazygal's review against another edition
2.0
Another supposed heir to The Secret History's throne... nope. So predictable, and really kind of strange in terms of how the school is set up with much of that seemingly shoehorned into that predictable plot. There's a lot of British public school terminology here, which sort of works because of the school being so steeped in the British system but lands awkwardly in a book set in America. As for the "cult" part, it wasn't all that believable particularly since it was supposed to be based on the one "transcendent" novel by a graduate of the school and yet it seems to take a real back seat to the action.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.
caitlinmw15's review
4.0
I loved so much about this, but every time I heard the audiobook narrator say World Historical I wanted to jump off a cliff.... where the rocks and the harbor are one 😏
mcmccomb's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
angielucy's review
3.0
Absolutely stunning. The next great dark academia craze. The pure joy I felt at following these teenage women rebelling, loving, living, and dying. Virginia and Laura's relationship is purely fascinating and all the characters are technicolour in their pure vibrancy. I cannot get enough.
bluebell_x's review against another edition
5.0
It's been a while since I read a book that was this enthralling. I was completely sucked in, I was THERE, with Laura and Virginia. In fact, I WAS Laura. I was also Virginia. Amazing. Reading this felt cozy and familiar but also different and inspiring. I cried toward the end quite a few times as well. 10/10 would read again and again and again. Goes into the "revisit every autumn" category for me.
zinelib's review
4.0
Laura Stearns from a suburb of Las Vegas yearns for a World-Historical life, in the manner of Sebastian Oliver Webster who authored Laura's favorite book, All Before Them. Webster attended St. Dunstan's, a New England boarding school, and now Laura is headed there as well, for her junior year of high school. She's an emotional person, but passive, rather than passionate. She finds St. Dunstan's church choir, especially its leader Virginia Strauss, transcendent, and eventually takes a place among them. Virginia and the choir are Laura's whole world.
If you think that sounds like a recipe for disaster, you're right. The World Cannot Give is a Literary read, with a lot of messed up white people (including a hot priest). I embraced the artistry of Burton's writing most of the way through, but found the ending a little too too. It's not bad, I just didn't quite get there. I feel like there's something I didn't connect to that more sophisticated readers would pick up.
Thanks, NetGalley for the digital ARC!
If you think that sounds like a recipe for disaster, you're right. The World Cannot Give is a Literary read, with a lot of messed up white people (including a hot priest). I embraced the artistry of Burton's writing most of the way through, but found the ending a little too too. It's not bad, I just didn't quite get there. I feel like there's something I didn't connect to that more sophisticated readers would pick up.
Thanks, NetGalley for the digital ARC!
camdennn's review
4.0
I received an Advanced Proof from Goodreads and I definitely wasn’t disappointed!
The story is so easy to settle into and the characters were so intriguing. While the outcome was slightly predictable towards the end I found myself hoping it wasn’t true which resulted in a late night of reading because I couldn’t put the book down.
On top of this I found the writing extremely refreshing for a coming of age story — elevated without being pretentious. The questions posed and the conversations the characters had stuck with me after putting the book down as I began working my way through the same conversations in my head.
I have definitely become a fan and can’t wait to pick up the author’s first book but don’t miss this one. It will leave you turning the phrase shipwrecked soul over and over in your head for days after finishing.
The story is so easy to settle into and the characters were so intriguing. While the outcome was slightly predictable towards the end I found myself hoping it wasn’t true which resulted in a late night of reading because I couldn’t put the book down.
On top of this I found the writing extremely refreshing for a coming of age story — elevated without being pretentious. The questions posed and the conversations the characters had stuck with me after putting the book down as I began working my way through the same conversations in my head.
I have definitely become a fan and can’t wait to pick up the author’s first book but don’t miss this one. It will leave you turning the phrase shipwrecked soul over and over in your head for days after finishing.