As a former Thespian and lifelong lover of Shakespeare, If We Were Villains is a book I should have loved. So many friends spoke so highly of it that I went in with tough-to-meet expectations, and unfortunately, they were not met. I think this is a book people will either love or hate; I should have DNF'd it early on to save myself the frustration but I was curious about the mystery!
The book largely focuses on the daily lives of the seven fourth-year acting students at their elite performing arts university. All of the characters are pretty much fit a caricature, and I didn't really connect with anyone other than our main character Oliver. Rio does a good job of nailing the comradery developed within a theatre company and the clashes of personality. These students breathe Shakespeare, quoting random lines from his Works in everyday conversation with one another, which I found endearing. But despite my love of the Bard, I really did not enjoy reading about their four performances as they are acted out. If I wanted to read scenes from Macbeth, I would pull out my Complete Works.
I was looking for a murder mystery full of unreliable characters and betrayal. While those expectations were bare minimum met, I found the mystery to almost be the subplot to Oliver's journey of self-discovery, which would have been beautiful but I found it tainted by a lot of horrible people.
“You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough.”I found myself pretty uncomfortable reading the book because of the bullying and slut-shaming, as well as the rather ubiquitous homophobia. The group is incredibly accepting of Alexander's sexuality (gay); however, everyone is really nasty toward Oliver for a friendship that they think might be more. Everyone is selfish and cruel, which may be an accurate depiction of reality but isn't really something I want to read. I honestly don't even want to mention the pansexual subplot in the book because the harmful bullying and homophobia endured are unchallenged.
"You can't quantify humanity. You can't measure a - not the way you mean to. People are passionate and flawed and fallible. They make mistakes."It's obvious that this book is M.L. Rio's love letter to theatre and the Bard. I think this is a book you will either love or hate, and I am sad to say that this book wasn't for me. The prose is beautiful and poetic, but the overall narrative structure just didn't work for me. If you love Shakespeare, this book may be something you enjoy, but I wouldn't really recommend this to those who aren't pretty familiar with his work.
Content warnings: bullying, drinking, eating disorder (and shitty comments about it), recreational drug use, homophobia, murder, slut-shaming, substance abuse, suicide
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