The book opens with the main character, Oliver, being released from prison after ten years for committing a murder. The head detective that put him there in the first place tells him that they don’t think Oliver was the murderer anymore and wants to know the truth. So, the two of them return to the college where Oliver and his six friends lived and the murder took place. As he tours the campus, he is reminded of the years he spent there at first, specifically the fourth year, which we’re told in the beginning is the year the most tragedy occurs. 

The year begins with all seven characters returning to their selective Shakespeare-obsessed arts college for their fourth and final year. The students themselves are equally interested in Shakespeare, memorizing all of his plays and quoting him in day to day life. Ollie and his friends are the most talented group in their year, resulting in them getting cast for every big performance, where they are always cast for the same roles: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, lacking type, and extra. Naturally, the actors begin to embody these roles offstage and lose their own sense of individuality. All of them except Oliver, the extra, whose role amorphously changes to support the roles of his friends’ with each show, which is a perfect reflection of the person he is in real life. He struggles to find himself and how he fits in with the seemingly perfect dynamic of the other characters. But no group can actually be perfect. Underneath, there is always some conflict. Love triangles, confusion with sexuality, and the threat of murder taints their idealized friend group. Who is the murderer? And who was murdered? 

    On some level, this book itself is a Shakespearean tragedy. Each character embodies the role they would take on in their plays. In the beginning of the book, one of their acting instructors, Frederick, asks them what themes will be explored this year when they perform tragedies. Themes are brought up during the conversation that are all explored throughout the book including fate versus agency, internal and external conflict, the tragic hero, and the tragic villain. It’s interesting to watch how the plays they perform throughout the year reflect real life and at some point, Oliver even asks himself whether art is imitating life or if it’s the other way around. I could relate to him as he struggled to define his own place within the group if he was constantly changing and the others were stagnant. It’s heartbreaking to watch how his people pleasing tendencies force him to change himself to fit in. 

    While the other characters had defined roles, they constantly broke their stereotypes. For example, a character named Merideth is the temptress in each play and plays a classic femme fatale offstage. However, in a conversation she has with an instructor, she reveals that she’s aware that her best aspect as an actor is her body and her greatest weakness is her insecurity that people will see her beauty and it will subtract from how they view her intellectually. Out of ten, I would give If We Were Villains a ten.

I would recommend If We Were Villains to anyone interested in Shakespeare, fate versus agency, murder mysteries, and found family.

Check out If we were Villains from NBPL!