If We Were Villains

A Novel

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M. L. Rio: If We Were Villains (2018, Flatiron Books)

paperback, 368 pages

Published April 17, 2018 by Flatiron Books.

ISBN:
978-1-250-09529-9
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3 stars (2 reviews)

Entreated to tell his side of the story to a detective who put him in prison a decade earlier for a murder he may not have committed, Oliver Marks describes his past as a Shakespearean actor in college whose rivalry with a castmate escalated in dangerous ways.

5 editions

An actors' view of dark academia

4 stars

You have to like Shakespeare for this one. It is steeped in his drama.

I think this book was a take on what's now called 'dark academia' that came from Tartt's Secret History. 'Villains' did do a good job of showing the cult-like bonding of repertory acting and you do fall in love with the characters. But it didn't touch the subtle sinking into the depths that Tartt's original does.

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