I loved The Secret History so much the comparisons piqued my interest. I can see why people would make them, but think there are fewer similarities than people suggest when they use it as short hand.

This is a story about a tight-knit group of friends whose cornerstone is a subject: theatre, in this case, rather than Greek studies in The Secret History. And one of them is ostensibly murdered, which affects each of them in different ways.

Where Greek tragedy serves as a thematic focal point in TSH, Shakespeare is the cohesive element here. So at first blush the short hand holds up. The experiences differ greatly, however, because Shakespeare is omnipresent. In the mouths of the characters in most scenes, thematically puppeteering their bodies, and policing their dialogue when the former is not occurring. The effect, for me, an (extreme) laymen in regards to Shakespeare, was a difficulty in suspending disbelief.

It’s interesting that the characters inability to express themselves manifests often as the regurgitation of various works. But it’s also thrown into contrast when they are not doing that, and those moments, for me, were the beating heart of the novel. I liked the prose far more when the characters were of their own mind. The specificity of the diction is stellar when this happens. It comes alive far more than when they parrot lines.

But on the flip side, the thematic cohesion Shakespeare plays is very satisfying at the meta level. So I land in a liminal place. Sometimes admiring the cohesion, sometimes resenting the near constant monologues and sonnets, other times, when the themes manifested, marvelling at how fulfilling the setup and execution is.

In the end, I was taken out of the narrative so often by my inability to believe that characters say and act the way they do, even with a first person, somewhat unreliable narration, that it feels opposed to the goals of TSH, which feels hyper realistic. I liked what If We Were Villains is doing, but it’s entertainment comes from its literalization of theatricality. I suppose I found out that this does not translate to the sort of universality I feel with a narrative with characters that make sense to me.

But I did find If We Were Villains to be compelling, consumable, and clever. Highly enjoyable. Certainly recommend it.