Reviews

The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton

ellosippo's review

4.0

Wow

angelais's review

5.0

So engaging that, about halfway through, I started shouting at the characters the way my dad used to shout at SportsCenter.

rghostling's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

shannonohannessian's review

3.0

Rounded up from 2.5 stars.

I see what the author was going for, but it felt a bit repetitive and underdeveloped. It started off promising, but the longer it went on, the more it lost steam. The characters fell flat and the ending was rushed. I didn't understand what the author was trying to convey and felt like she was trying to distract from not having a clear message with big worlds and complicated concepts.

lottie1803's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

gcardon's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

picked up this for the queer longing and religious tones which ended up very lacking. I feel like it's a stretch to even consider this book as having queer representation and the characters felt flat for a plot that was character-driven. disappointed because the setting seemed promising

achillesheeled's review

2.0

Laura would have jumped. She knows that now. She will do anything Virginia asks her to. It is a fact beyond assessment or adjudication; it is a law of nature. It’s not her place to have an opinion on it. She will go where Virginia goes. Virginia will tell her what things mean.

2.25-5 ish

a lot of potential here but i disliked the writing and 90% of the characters were very flat (and not just because of an unreliable narrator) and indistinguishable from one another. the middle part is mostly pretty boring. i also did not like the writing style at all and only liked certain parts (the first page is honestly really good). theres also muddy ideologies and themes and the author that all the characters are in love with or hate never gets fleshed out. also theres barely any wlw romance or yearning :/// agh why didnt i (re)reread the secret history instead. no idea why a lot of people gave this 5/5

theinkwyrm's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

I appreciated how this take on dark academia was focused on music instead of literature for the academia part, even while having a specific literature woven heavily throughout. It could have used some editing in the middle where the plot started to lag, but otherwise I enjoyed this.

ghostlyweeds's review

This book has me feeling very perplexed. Obviously I enjoyed the reading experience enough to finish the book, but there were also so many parts of this that I actually disliked. Some parts read like poetry and other parts felt exactly like watching a teen drama, which considering the ages seems appropriate. Are we meant to like any of the characters? Are we meant to actually care what happened to any of them? I can't even explain what kept me drawn into the pages, except maybe just a gross fascination with watching someone shipwreck their soul.

d3monology's review

3.75

Prose was at times a bit rough, unpolished. Virginia was not wholly believable as a cult of personality, but I think that Burton succeeds enough in making Virginia real that I didn’t notice too much. Our man character, Laura’s progression and development was excellently mastered. This novel did many things in its discussion of religion, of gender, of America’s fascination with religious fantaticism vs. secular revolution (in general, the novel could be a metaphor for the modern political theatre), the culture and art we obsess over as teenagers, anyway, anyway. Highly recommend. Will be purchasing a hard copy.