The Things We Do to Our Friends
⭐⭐⭐ 3 out of 5 stars
Title: The Things We Do to Our Friends
Author: Heather Dawent
Publisher: Penguin
Format: ARC, ebook
Publication: 12th January 2023
When Clare arrives in Edinburgh to study art history, her real goal is to reinvent herself. She only needs to find a suitable group of people to help her carry out the task. Clare meets charismatic Tabitha in her class and immediately understands what her new self would look like. Impressed by her new friend, she spends more time with her circle and learns about their dangerously easy plans for the future…
I need to admit that I found this book quite disappointing. I read somewhere that it’s a dark academic novel, but it has nothing I learned to expect from the genre. There is no dark academic atmosphere or students obsessed with their subject. It seems more like some college drama about a group of depraved young people and their toxic dynamics. The fact that they meet at university is irrelevant to the bigger picture. The only genuinely fascinating trait is the main character’s wish to rebuild her life and identity, but the way she executes it is questionable. In many elements of the plot, the author intended to shock the reader, but this effected in a series of unnecessarily intense scenes divided by monotony.
Although I did not enjoy this book as much as I believed I would, I think it could resonate with younger readers who have just entered their adult life like the characters of this novel. It is more similar to YA fiction than dark academia novels.
Thank you, NetGalley and publisher, for providing the arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
A bookish daydream 