By Jay Grummel
If We Were Villains has a way of making the horrifics acts of rivals and the blurry line of morals poetic. At first glance I didn’t think I’d enjoy this book as much as I did, especially with the amount of times it quoted Shakespeare. However, after diving into this dark academic piece I quickly fell in love with the plot it was creating and the characters it kept at a distance. I personally haven’t been able to think of anything else since finishing this read.
After ten years in jail Oliver Marks is finally ready to tell the truth of what happened during his fourth year at Dellecher Classical Conservatory. However, Oliver is only willing to tell one person, the man who put him away all those years ago, Detective Colborne. Oliver was once one of seven young Shakespearean actors at the conservatory, a place known for intense competition and needed ambition to stay enrolled. With a group as close as family Oliver finds himself hopeless during the violence that takes place his fall semester and the tragedies that quickly follow. With the challenge of convincing everyone and themselves of their innocence If We Were Villains finds itself pushing the rules of morals and showing the underlying love and loyalty in found families.
Tiktok quickly went nuts over this book, finding the overall themes and emotions captivating. It has over a 4.2 star average with over 200,000 ratings on Goodreads making it one of the most popular dark academia books to date. The mystery and back and fourth between present and past makes this book hard to put down. The reader is never really sure what is true and what is a lie as the characters communicate with Shakespeare quotes and are more likely to avoid/suppress their emotions than communicate. The poetic style of this book has you wanting more and more.
It should be said that in order to enjoy this novel you do not need background knowledge of Shakespeare, a quick search of which play and a more focused reading will be enough to enjoy it as much as I did. There are a lot of connections between characters in the novels and ones in Shakespeare’s plays, however nothing a common reader wouldn’t be able to infer. For me the quotes helped me connect to these characters, feel their emotions put into words they could not say directly to each other, but they all seemed to understand. With this way of communication and dialogue you can almost feel the characters and their tendency to close of those closest to them, something most art kids/majors will understand.
There is a love between two character I am not sure I could ever describe as they themselves never knew how to put it into words, but reading and feeling their dedication to each other, you can quickly understand them more than I think they understood themselves. Sometimes with books like this it is easier to feel than it is to know. This book so effortlessly takes us into Oliver’s head and heart, having us root for him even when his morals are skewed. If you enjoy books that shift your perspective of humanity and morality then If We Were Villains should be your next read.
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