If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio(reading blog by Ruby Ballesteros)

 

    I have recently started a riveting novel called If we were villains. The story takes place in Illinois in a town called Broadwater at Dellecher Classical Conservatory. The story follows the POV of a young man, Olivier and his group of friends that partake in theater at this conservatory. But as the group of friends preforms great plays like Macbeth and Caesar, the lines between reality and fiction blur and the group finds themselves playing their roles not only on stage but off stage as well. The story also flashes forward to when Oliver recently is out of jail for a crime that is not yet revealed. 

    Richard is probably one of the more fascinating characters. He's the first one to bring the fantasy of the plays into their real life. The friend group including Oliver is most confused when Richard almost kills one of their other friends at a party, still filled with the violence that took place in Macbeth which they had preformed hours prior. Richard begins to hurt the other actors in Ceaser when preforming instead of just stage fighting. In retaliation the friend group began to fight back on stage, bringing the lines between the performance and reality closer together. Because the entirety of the novel so far is from Oliver's POV, it leaves me to wonder what drove Richard to do these things and what exactly is going through his brain to cause such chaos. I also think that Richard is one of the main reasons that the plays become reality because its a result of his violent actions, this leads me to wonder what the story would be like without him; is he the cause for the friend group's reality slipping? 

Another way that reality and theater blends together is in the dialogue. Often when the characters are conversing, they respond my using a line from a play that is relevant to the conversation.  It makes the novel much more interesting as well as esteemed. I find it very impressive that these characters are able to know so much of these plays and it fascinates me that different styles of literature can be worked into each other to create cohesive story. I am almost half way done with the novel, and I have noticed that as the story progresses, the more lines from plays are present, rather than actual dialogue. 

Oliver seems like a genuinely good person so far, so whatever crime he committed I believe to be a result of the theater not that he is villains. As the reader, I enjoy getting to watch their minds slip, it's such a difficult thing to write and it's executed very well in the book. I  can see how things might get confusing to the characters, especially Oliver. I do think that this book requires extra focus to be able to comprehend what is going on. But in the end, is a wonderful story of dark academia and crazy thespians... what's not to like?