V for Vendetta - Book Review

I read V for Vendetta because we are studying the dystopian genre at school. This book, or rather its movie, was used in a lot of examples. So, my dad was like "oh, we can watch the movie together!" But then a few days later he's like "oh it's actually rated R so no."

But of course by this point I was intrigued. Not because it was rated R, just to clear that up, but because it sounded interesting. 

It was interesting.

I don't know if I was supposed to like V's character but I did. Don't ask me why... but something about the way in which V spoke was just so cool? And his appearance was so cool. Like the mask and the hair? And the hat, at times? And the boots? And literally everything. Literally every drawing of him was p e r f e c t i o n. I feel like the art style in V for Vendetta was certainly interesting, but it definitely suited the story.

This is gonna sound kinda weird, but I liked how brutal the book was. If you, the person reading this, have read V for Vendetta then I think you know what I mean by how brutal the book was. I'm trying not to give spoilers in this review though.

The ending was so effective and powerful though? I like how open-ended the ending was. The entire book was so powerful oh my gosh. It was also messed up. But still. 

I took heaps of illegal screenshots of some of the panels because they were so powerful. They really spoke truth about the world, in a poetic way. Most of the screenshots were of things V said. 

I really enjoyed the connections to Guy Fawkes, because for some reason it was nostalgic to me. Probably because I learned about Guy Fawkes in year two. The rhyme (remember, remember the fifth of November) was also very nostalgic. And also when the Magic Faraway Tree was read. That was very cool because I used to read that book with my mum alllll the time, and it was so interesting seeing it twisted into something dark and political.

For some reason that I can't explain or put into words, the V-theme in the book was so satisfying and cool. Like, the majority of the chapter titles began with the letter V, the V symbol that was painted as a sort of equivalent of the Mockingjay symbol, the Violet Carson roses. The roses were so cool. For some reason I find that flowers with dark meanings and in dark stories is so cool. Yeah, and the fact that it all tied back into the fact that his name/codename was V.

I also liked the fact that (and this may be considered a spoiler) we never actually really found out who V was. If we had found out, I think that readers' opinions on him would have majorly changed. And I think the fact that his identity remained anonymous also implied that anyone could have done the things he did.

I'm sure that heaps of people have very very split opinions on whether the things that V did were "right", and whether V was "bad" or just morally grey. Is it weird that I think that he was somewhat of a father figure to Evey? I guess the thing that makes me say that was that one scene where he was reading to Evey. Sure, there was definitely a dark meaning behind the passage that he was shown reading, but it still made me kinda happy. I liked how V started calling her "Eve" once she became more aware of everything.
There was a lot of repetition of phrases throughout V for Vendetta. I think that this was also very effective and eerie. Good evening, London. I would introduce myself, but truth to tell, I do not have a name. You can call me “V”. is probably the best example. 

But as I said before, so many of the things that V said were just so poetic and dark at the same time. Some even resonated with me. Yeah, I did illegally screenshot some of them. And, yeah, I'm putting them in this post. PLEASE DO NOT ARREST ME.

V for Vendetta was written in the 1980s, and I am actually very fascinated by this. My interest in the '80s came from my obsession with its music, and I really do enjoy looking at things from back then. V for Vendetta was presumably very ahead of its time, and it is still very relevant today. It was entertaining to see some of the '80s fashion (or clothes from around that time anyway). I am used to reading dystopian things that are set far in the future, and when V for Vendetta was written it was only set about ten years after it was written. And reading it now, it is set in the past. I think that this is very interesting, and it adds to the gothic vibe that is given off (gothic... that was one of the words I was looking for). I liked (obviously didn't agree with) the theme of people always being watched and thought that this was an effective and realistic part of the dystopian society.

I bet that V for Vendetta had heaps and heaps of metaphors hidden everywhere, as well as mixed meanings. I may have picked up on some of them, but probably not a lot. In my defense, I was reading it on my tiny phone screen. 

The story as a whole is so so deep and I really enjoyed reading it. It's so different to anything that I've read before -- for a variety of reasons, including:

1. The fact that it's a comic/graphic novel and I haven't read too many of those.

2. The dark, political, gothic and overall very intense vibes it gave off. 

3. Literally just the time period it's set in and was written in.

V for Vendetta was very dark at the start, but I liked how it kept getting darker and darker. I don't think that it was morally correct, but I think it was interesting to see reality twisted for Evey at that one point. I was actually surprised when she found out what was actually going on.

I could definitely see the R-rated potential in this... 😅 I think that the fact that it was a graphic novel emphasised some of the stuff in there. It was actually relatively un-gory, but it was still... interesting. 

I really admire the author and illustrator. Like, wow. I may end up reading this again, which is something I rarely do, but it was that good (and I tend to reread graphic novels more than text-books).

I've actually written over 1000 words for this post, which is surprising. I guess V for Vendetta is very analyse-able. I do recommend it... but there's a bunch of iffy stuff in it, which I will include in my cringey warnings that I do on every book review. It will probably be a very long list of warnings, and I apologise in advance because I know I will definitely miss stuff. The "mature readers" warning on the covers of the V for Vendetta books/chapters weren't lying.

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and Alex Lloyd, 15+* ★★★★

*This age recommendation is only my opinion. Some younger people might feel comfortable reading this book, and some older people might not. That's fine, either way. Warning for heaps of potentially upsetting themes, sexual assault, mental and physical torture, lots of violence, quite a bit of gore, dark and political themes, racism, homophobia, slurs, religious discrimination, swearing, nudity, sexual references/themes, needles, death, murder, drug use and experimentation on humans.