These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong

Published by Hodder and Stoughton: Great Britain, 2020.

I read this book after some co-workers were talking it up. These Violent Delights is a retelling of (the first half of) Romeo and Juliet, but set in 1920s Shanghai. Oh, and there is a monster that is making people kill themselves.

Yeah.

It is a well-written book, a bit of a page turner, though also quite violent. When the monster strikes, its victims will rip their own throats out, and this does happen on occasion fairly descriptively. Fortunately most of those scenes are fairly short.

Our main point-of-view character is Juliette Cai, heiress of the Scarlet Gang, who has recently returned from four years living in America and is now stepping up into her role within the gang. She has already had a relationship with Roma Montagov (heir of the Russian gang the White Flowers) that ended in heartbreak and betrayal, but the two are thrown back into each others' worlds thanks to the arrival of the monster. They must learn to work together again, while fighting their continued attraction to each other. Of course, being a Romeo and Juliet version, we pretty much know they'll eventually get over their hurts!

Both Roma and Juliette have a pair of supporting characters that, despite the 1920s setting, show that the book is a far more modern story: Rosalind and Kathleen are Juliette's cousins, and Kathleen is not-so-subtly implied to be transgender; Benedikt and Marshall are Roma's friends, with Marshall not-so-subtly implied to be gay. Both of these rainbow characters are fully accepted and loved by those in their worlds, although both also have their share of prejudiced people to face off with, and this did take me out of the historical setting somewhat (yes, even in a world with monsters). I can't imagine that either character would be so easily accepted in that age and culture - although I may be wrong. 

The story meanders at times but is still interesting enough to keep your attention. The resolution of the monster story also raises a few more questions, and it is very obvious (especially considering only half the Romeo and Juliet story has been told) that the story will continue in a sequel (which it has).

Not my favourite book of the year, but one that I can understand the popularity of.

Completed 17 June 2023.

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