#iwwv edit

[clockworkbee]

As someone who believes people shouldn’t regret anything in life because everything—that you do and don’t do—adds up to make you who you are and bring you where you are today; I really loved these lines on regretting unmade decisions and/or actions from The Secret History and If We Were Villains.

Forgive me, for all the things that I did but mostly for the ones that I did not.

—The Secret History (1992), Donna Tartt

How tremendous the agony of unmade decisions.

—If We Were Villains (2017), M. L. Rio

[eiivens]

"Whatever we did—or, more crucially, did not do—it seemed that so long as we did it together, our individual sins might be abated. There is no comfort like complicity."

Had to make a presentation for my creative writing class and I liked these slides enough to post them ehe :)

[adxmparriish]

which of us could say we were more sinned against than sinning? we were so easily manipulated - confusion made a masterpiece of us.

[critterofthenight]

James and Meredith: *passionately kissing at the rehearsal as Edmund and Goneril*

Oliver:

[konyvtaroslany]

"Do you blame Shakespeare for any of it?"

"I blame him for all of it."

[permanentreverie]

‘are book moodboards still a thing lmao’ IM- !?!?!???

[nox-ceur]

Do I need two copies of the same book? No

Will I be buying a second copy? Honestly I’m tempted

[ifwewere-stories]

If we were villains; fancast

[protect-namine]

okay so the reason I'm looking up shakespeare plays is because I decided to (slowly) read if we were villains by m.l. rio, which is a book about theater students in their final year. I think someone dies in the book and everyone tries to act innocent or something like that? I'm only 50 pages in so I haven't really reached that part yet.

but anyway, I think the book is doing some interesting character work but it's like. I'd say 70% is through the actual plot (characters acting as themselves, though filtered through oliver's perspective since he's the narrator) and 30% through the characters they act as in shakespeare plays. I find it interesting!! it's like... you meet them as archetypes and they are typecasted even in auditions (richard is the tyrant, james is the hero, meredith is the temptress, oliver is usually a side/secondary character etc.) because they have specific roles they're good at, or their strengths in acting best suit the roles they get. but in their final year, I think their teachers are trying to challenge them with more varied roles outside of their usual.

but also. I was wondering how much of the shakespeare references are there for fun and set dressing (because their school only performs shakespeare plays), and how much is foreshadowing and uh. idk the proper english lit term for this, but like, symbols? shakespeare references sprinkled in to symbolize or say something about the character without expicitly saying it? so for example, in scene one, james and oliver are both talking about the play troilus and cressida, where james says that if they were to mix up roles for variety, then oliver should be troilus. and oliver comments that james would be a good cressida. and I'm like. okay, so they're gonna be a tragic love story??

but then I also think, wait oliver is always associated with pericles. and pericles gets a happy ending, though it takes a very very long time and a couple of "deaths" in quotation marks. so... maybe not so tragic, in the end?

they're also doing both caesar and macbeth in the book and I'm trying to predict who dies later (I'm guessing richard) and how (...that, I'm not quite sure yet, but I think oliver takes the blame somehow based on the prologue. and based on who got cast as brutus and cassius, I guess something happens with james and alexander)

but then I'm like, what if I'm reading too much into this? but the book itself has five acts which is the usual structure of shakespeare's plays, so surely, this isn't just set dressing stuff. so yeah. anyway. still in act i, but my current bet is richard dies in act iii somehow.

[nanstgeorge]

.

[pallases]

how have i read iwwv twice and still have no idea what james farrow looks like

[clockworkbee]

[glassamphibians]

AND WE GOT BOTH EARLY LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO

did Not realize graveyard shift and the new if we were villains editions come out on the same day this is huge for annoying people (me)

[pictureofdoriaaaaaangay]

chaotic book ramble so I can stop spiraling into the abyss: dark academia books you've heard of and probably already read edition

I need to talk about books I love to stay sane please stand by <3

Bunny by Mona Awad. I love this book SO MUCH. it's beautifully written, the characters are all unhinged women, there's murder, there's creation, there's a creative writing class. it drips with insanity and eroticism. reading it is like living a fever dream. you can picture the events of the book perfectly, but could never hope to explain it to anyone.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt. this book is the entire world to me. I love the characters [they're all terrible and irredeemable people], I love the story [they kill a man then they kill their friend and also worship Dionysus], and I absolutely want a friend group just like the Greek class [to reiterate: they are all walking red flags]. it's a book you have to read once, then again, and again, just to notice more and more so you can analyze it and make deductions. at the end of the day, it goes beyond the age-old "moral implications of murder" and delves into "moral implications of love". don't ask me how many times I've read it. that's my red flag.

If We Were Villains by ML Rio. it was only recently that I read this over the course of twenty four hours, and I honesty have yet to recover. I'm not a Shakespeare girlie, but I still loved the way his work was so inherently and intricately woven into the story of the iwwv characters. it was transcendent. it was a tragedy, it was a love story, it was a comedy. it depends on your perception of it, I suppose. but I digress - it's a really good bloody book. expect the ending to make you cry.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by our lord and savior Oscar Wilde. this, technically, can't really be classified under the textbook definition of "dark academia" since there's not exactly any academia (can Harry even read let's be honest here), but it goes in this list because VIBES. this is one of my favorite novels of all time, and another one I've read one too many times for it to not be a red flag. I mean, the name of my damn blog is my red flag. I love it so much. it's got everything, from art to obsession to murder to gay people to the most heartachingly profound lines you've ever read. I mean, why wouldn't you read it if you haven't already?

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever. this one snuck up on me. towards the beginning, I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but by the middle, I was hooked. by the ending, I was shooketh. reading the author note, I was sitting silently in abject horror. more gay people, more obsession, more murder - what else do I have to say?

this has been a chaotic book ramble. thank you for being here <3

[ghostthetown]

Comparing “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt and “If We Were Villains” by M. L. Rio, a little while after finishing them both once, with no notes, no receipts, no knowledge of the antique classics or Shakespeare, and no one asking because I have no one to talk to about them, with varying levels of seriousness and sarcasm, over the course of random sleepless nights.

As to anyone who would ask why compare these two, it's because one of them has the name of the other right on its front fucking cover. (in some editions anyway)

Also, I don't hate If We Were Villains, I still think it's one of the better books, but I have a need to prove (mostly) to myself that THS is a better book with better characters, better plot, and better writing. If you love IWWV and hate THS, you're not wrong, you're entitled to do and like whatever you want. Keep doing what makes you happy.

Also excuse my grammar and syntax and spelling, I'm foreign and I'm doing my best.

[susiephone]

the fact that IWWV hasn't been made into a movie or series yet, thus meaning I can't make joliver edits to "inkpot gods", is, frankly, rude