Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

71 reviews

trulydevious's review against another edition

sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal death

vagorsol's review

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

2.5

Maybe I’m just dumb, but when I got to the end I just was like “I don’t understand any of how we got here.” Julian and Paul’s everything was just incomprehensible to me, which was a problem since that’s the entirety of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Self harm, and Death of parent

reallyrosalie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Antisemitism, Animal death, and Self harm

ashlikes's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Blood, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Antisemitism, Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Bullying, Sexual violence, Animal death, Sexism, Vomit, and War

hbocking's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Murder, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent

aidareads's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

this was an interesting read for me. i found the premise engaging and i admit i had high expectations because of leo's (https://www.youtube.com/@TheBookLeo) review, but i still didn't seem to enjoy it as much as she did.
see, i think my main "problem" with this book is that i really, really wanted to absolutely love it. i was expecting a dark academia type of story - and don't get me wrong, they got the dark part very well. it was the academia part that i believe i've been missing. 
also, while i do think julian and paul's toxic and obsessive relationship was quite well portrayed, i struggled to actually connect with them (and, by extension, with any character in the story). i did appreciate how they progressively get more and more unhinged, but they already started off as a bit insane. i didn't really empathize with neither of them, even if i did suffer for them when they did.
also, i don't know if paul is canonically neurodivergent, but he does exhibit MANY autistic traits, which i found curious. 
overall, i did like the book, but i didn't love it, and i also didn't feel like it was a solid 4 stars. i also checked the trigger warnings for it and was still unpleasantly surprised when i noticed how graphic and frequent self-harm is in the story because it wasn't listed when i checked the tags, so please do take care and check those before reading this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Homophobia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Antisemitism, Blood, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Drug use

cameronreads's review against another edition

4.0

I don’t quite know how to articulate my thoughts about this book. I can’t even really tell if I liked it, all I know is upon ending it I’ve been left in shock about the entire reading experience. Watching this incredibly toxic relationship progress and reading Paul’s completely unreliable narration felt like watching a train wreck I couldn’t tear my eyes away from. I do think it is excellently and cleverly told; the slow pacing works well for the story, the writing style matches it perfectly, and the unreliable narration that is slowly revealed as more and more unreliable is fantastic. There is something addicting about the relationship between Paul and Julian - they are truly awful together and only bring each other pain but you cannot help but feel so much towards them. I will be thinking about this book for a very long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Antisemitism, Grief, and Suicide

Minor: Classism and Fire/Fire injury

5aru's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

While initially reminiscent of The Secret History, If We Were Villains, and other staples of (homoerotic) dark academia, These Violent Delights manages to tread its own ground nevertheless. With an ending that felt fitting yet rather underwhelming for the wild ride it takes you on throughout, the novel's poetic yet raw exploration of grief and all-encompassing loneliness still manages to hook you as the characters sink into passion, fear, and increasing despair. Suffice it to say, this really puts the dark in academia, so approach with caution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Self harm

Moderate: Homophobia and Murder

torismazarine's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Suicide, Antisemitism, Car accident, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual content, and War

sheshallbenamed's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, Self harm, Death of parent, Murder, and Death

Minor: Rape