Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

4 reviews

paulawind's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

What the fuck was this book. Do I so severely lack media literacy skills or intercultural reference skills that most of this book left me thoroughly confused? Paul being a severely unreliable narrator also wasn’t helping to judge the actions and motivations behind them of any character but Pablo. In the end

we find out that Julian genuinely loved Pablo with his whole heart, all cruelty was just Paul’s interpretation, Julian desperately wanted Pablo to love him, even orchestrating murder with him

. Having said that I still don’t understand the motivations of characters by the end. They seemed to be taking 180 every chapter, are they in love, are they not, is Paul just self-loathing or is he actually criminally insane? Getting inside his head made me feel dirty. But then again this is a book, according to the author, about queer isolation and how we are still perceived as “the other”, which is only layered with other marginalisations. And I can see it in the book but there are still so many other points and themes the novel is touching on that leave me confused and they didn’t seemed to be resolved by the end. Or, as I said in the beginning, I just didn’t get it and the metaphors and symbolism was actually really straightforward and I’m just stupid. Which would be very valid, I think ever since exiting academia I am using brain cells at the exponential pace 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Eating disorder, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Violence, Murder, Self harm, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Classism, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

chuckyinspace's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Death, Suicide, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Car accident, and Chronic illness

Minor: Antisemitism and Homophobia

fionamclary's review against another edition

4.5

This book is like if The Secret History and A Separate Peace had an even sadder, gayer baby.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual content, War, Racism, Bullying, and Xenophobia

michaelferlazzo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Ok, is it no plot just vibes? Maybe, but just imagine only bad vibes. A book full of red flags, no joke, if you know, you know. Paul and Julian both need to get over themselves already, you’re both not that great ok? What great prose, such a depressing book about the terrible things people can convince themselves to do and it’s so well written. Would not recommend, but had an interesting time reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Death, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Cursing