milesofpages's review against another edition
3.0
“The thing about growing up,” Isobel says, “is that you learn that sometimes, bad people are just bad people. And most people, in the end, are bad people.”
Fight Club boarding school? Those are magical words to my little ears. However, this honestly made me think of a darker Mean Girls with Virginia Strauss as Regina George and Laura as Cady, or for those that know it, The Heathers. (Hey Winona) It was the same clique kind of school and I was bored. I almost DNF but I kept on since I was on a road trip. Part 2 is where it starts to pick up into the dark and twisted plot I was waiting for. Some of you may not make it that far, so I want to preface that first!
These friendships are grade A toxic and have a major co-dependency to them. They are constantly seeking validation and it’s so relatable to a fault. The hyper obsession was a really different angle. There’s discussion with what teens go through in today’s society (queue Teenagers by MCR) and it’s an eye opening interpretation. There’s a slew of triggers, so please watch out for those going in.
I listened on audio and Sarah Beth Pfeifer had me evoking emotions I didn’t know I could. Her nonchalant and haughty tone as Virginia had me ready to pull a gal by her hair. Her kind rough, but caring voice for Isobel had me sobbing. (Yes, of course I cried)
I enjoyed the ending, even with it not being wrapped in a bow. We get some of the growth we were missing, even if it’s just acceptance of how this is how people will always be. It fell a bit flat in the beginning, but made up in the end, but still has me conflicted on how to rate this.
Thank you so much @simon for the gifted copy. The World Cannot Give is out 3/8!
Fight Club boarding school? Those are magical words to my little ears. However, this honestly made me think of a darker Mean Girls with Virginia Strauss as Regina George and Laura as Cady, or for those that know it, The Heathers. (Hey Winona) It was the same clique kind of school and I was bored. I almost DNF but I kept on since I was on a road trip. Part 2 is where it starts to pick up into the dark and twisted plot I was waiting for. Some of you may not make it that far, so I want to preface that first!
These friendships are grade A toxic and have a major co-dependency to them. They are constantly seeking validation and it’s so relatable to a fault. The hyper obsession was a really different angle. There’s discussion with what teens go through in today’s society (queue Teenagers by MCR) and it’s an eye opening interpretation. There’s a slew of triggers, so please watch out for those going in.
I listened on audio and Sarah Beth Pfeifer had me evoking emotions I didn’t know I could. Her nonchalant and haughty tone as Virginia had me ready to pull a gal by her hair. Her kind rough, but caring voice for Isobel had me sobbing. (Yes, of course I cried)
I enjoyed the ending, even with it not being wrapped in a bow. We get some of the growth we were missing, even if it’s just acceptance of how this is how people will always be. It fell a bit flat in the beginning, but made up in the end, but still has me conflicted on how to rate this.
Thank you so much @simon for the gifted copy. The World Cannot Give is out 3/8!
ventenne's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
2.0
laura (the narrator) annoyed the shit out of me: she was blind, naïve, and a pushover on multiple fronts. i read the first few pages, then skipped to the last page and read the book backwards, section by section (i was reading an ebook). if i hadn’t done this, it would have been too irksome to finish.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Death, and Homophobia
blob_99's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded up. There was a lot I liked about this book but the main character was also one of the most frustrating I've encountered in some time. At around the 70% mark that frustration got to the point that I debated not even finishing. Ultimately, I'm glad I stuck with it.
alexacj's review against another edition
4.0
This book really captured how obsessive and intense those teen years can be, which I found relatable despite the fact that my own teen years were nowhere near as... unhinged? as this book was. But wanting a better world, and for yourself to be bigger and better within it? The way friendships at that age felt insular, fragile, larger than life? Oof. This story probably isn't for everyone, but comparisons to The Secret History were apt enough - though I liked how this story was set in the relative present, and the protagonist never fully managed to escape the "real world" around her despite how desperately she romanticized the past/her own idea of a different present. It made their fumbled grasping for transcendence feel flimsier, which I thought was a plus. You can convince yourself of a lot (especially at seventeen) but at the end of the day your culty teen delusions are probably going to fall apart - if they don't tear you apart, first.
I liked it, what can I say. Protagonist Laura might have been weak-willed, but she was the perfect lens for witnessing holy dumpster-fire Virginia. Their relationship was problematic as hell and I loved every second of it. If teens making terrible, terrible decisions in the name of Something Better sounds like a good time to you, this might be your book.
I liked it, what can I say. Protagonist Laura might have been weak-willed, but she was the perfect lens for witnessing holy dumpster-fire Virginia. Their relationship was problematic as hell and I loved every second of it. If teens making terrible, terrible decisions in the name of Something Better sounds like a good time to you, this might be your book.
isaconnolly's review against another edition
4.0
it was a little overkill on the whole homoerotic rebellious teen girl friendship and kind of a cheap copy of the secret hisory but i did actually enjoy it.
pemma6's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Laura is quiet and cries easily and is obsessed with a book written by a man who died young. She goes to the boarding school he went to in hopes that her life will finally start. Instead, she meets Virginia Strauss. The publisher's description calls this a "shocking meditation on the power, and danger, of wanting more from the world." And honestly, I think it works.
Maybe it works because I have always loved books where the characters do not really act like real people or talk like real people or think like real people. They focus too narrowly on ideas of transcendence and the meaning of life and do things that no one would actually do. But I love these narrow, focused narratives -- especially when they're at boarding schools. And while the characters are high schoolers, I think this reads more like the "dark academia" staples of "The Secret History" and "If We Were Villains" (the prose isn't as strong, but Tartt is hard to beat there). It's needlessly emotional and dramatic, but it's also cutting and cynical and doesn't mess around.
It's not an overly queer story or too shocking -- though the final climax is intense, it's just part of the formula you come to expect from these stories. But lots of it was familiar in the problems you have as a teenager that don't go away as an adult: what does it mean, how do we make a mark, why don't other people take the same things seriously, when will it feel like we've grown up, what happens when we follow the wrong people, what happens when we realize we're followers and not leaders?
So, it worked for me. While it was ridiculous at times (no one can run eight miles that easily, honestly) it was honest enough in others for me to be thinking about it after I finished.
4 stars.
Laura is quiet and cries easily and is obsessed with a book written by a man who died young. She goes to the boarding school he went to in hopes that her life will finally start. Instead, she meets Virginia Strauss. The publisher's description calls this a "shocking meditation on the power, and danger, of wanting more from the world." And honestly, I think it works.
Maybe it works because I have always loved books where the characters do not really act like real people or talk like real people or think like real people. They focus too narrowly on ideas of transcendence and the meaning of life and do things that no one would actually do. But I love these narrow, focused narratives -- especially when they're at boarding schools. And while the characters are high schoolers, I think this reads more like the "dark academia" staples of "The Secret History" and "If We Were Villains" (the prose isn't as strong, but Tartt is hard to beat there). It's needlessly emotional and dramatic, but it's also cutting and cynical and doesn't mess around.
It's not an overly queer story or too shocking -- though the final climax is intense, it's just part of the formula you come to expect from these stories. But lots of it was familiar in the problems you have as a teenager that don't go away as an adult: what does it mean, how do we make a mark, why don't other people take the same things seriously, when will it feel like we've grown up, what happens when we follow the wrong people, what happens when we realize we're followers and not leaders?
So, it worked for me. While it was ridiculous at times (no one can run eight miles that easily, honestly) it was honest enough in others for me to be thinking about it after I finished.
4 stars.
meris_leveled_up's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
lilacs_'s review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25