Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - These Violent Delights

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

16 reviews

birdieex's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Mixed feelings on this book. I feel like this is going to be is difficult for me to rate. On one hand, I think I lacked the media literacy skills to understand a fair bit of the writing style, and ended up having to reread paragraphs. On the other hand, I can acknowledge it's a layered, psychologically complex story of obsession and violence.

I can see what the author was going for with the writing; something complicated and tangled and messy. However, there were many scenes I couldn't comprehend what was going on. I couldn't piece together where scenes started and ended or who was speaking when. I thought the

unreliable narrator

was done well. The ending threw me for a loop, honestly. That callback was so good.

There were a lot of times where characters knew something (or thought they knew something) I didn't and it was hard for me to connect to anyone. If the intention was to make us read between the lines, I had trouble doing that; and again this could come down to my own media illiteracy. I can't grasp the motive behind the killing. It was a thrill killing, but why? Why did they suddenly decide to do this?

I couldn't figure out if they even liked each other during some parts, which I get is the point. It's toxic and codependent, but I still found myself thinking "why the hell are you even together?" because I couldn't see anything that really brought them together.

Content Warnings

moz_art's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

kitrook's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious

5.0

i don’t even know what to say after this. it make me feel like I was guilty and a witness to the murder who should turn themself into the police

Content Warnings

shegoteverythin's review against another edition

Go to review page

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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“All they were—all they had ever been—was a pair of sunflowers who each believed the other was the sun.” Haven't stopped thinking about this book for weeks now. The absolute tragedies that are Paul Fleischer and Julian Fromme. I loved the writing in this and especially the depiction of Paul's progression as a character and how he as an unreliable narrator perceived Julian and their relationship.

Content Warnings

_lain_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

Bad pacing, couldn't connect to any of the characters, and unintelligible storytelling, and unnecessary descriptions of assault and violence which came unexpected

Content Warnings

archiveofrasa's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense 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

5.0

how the fuck do I even talk about this

when people pitched it as a book with incredibly morally grey characters in this toxic queer relationship doing crimes, that is exactly what I got. a lot of the times, I think, when people read morally grey characters, they try to "un-grey" them to feel more comfortable reading about them. I guarantee you, you won't be able to do that here: these two boys are as grey and as toxic as they can get.

the most violent aspect of this story isn't even the murder that happens. I was expecting something more from there than what I got, but it was more of a surprise to me than something that put me off. if you do want to know about the violence:

essentially Julian lets Paul hit him near the end of Part I and Paul continuously self-harms by hitting himself throughout the novel

. it's fun! (sarcastic)

the writing was absolutely stunning as a debut novel, I highlighted so much. the author really knows how to write and this type of writing is my favourite. yes, it's so fucking pretentious but that is the point. these two boys are clever and can think for themselves and are convinced no one else can. in a way, from what they've seen,

e.g. the Milgram experiment,

they have a right to believe that.

Paul's narrative felt both very personal and also very distant, it's incredible how the author managed to do that almost seamlessly, bringing us closer during very uncomfortable moments in the most perfect times. I personally also loved the unreliability of Paul as a narrator, it got you thinking about how he viewed things, why he did and what is actually real. Julian's development as a result felt subtle but on the second read, I noticed that it was there, the shift from cruel to desperation and it was so captivating to see this classically charismatic character crack under specific circumstances. as someone who's currently experiencing grief, the trauma from it is weaved into Paul's actions and thoughts, you won't notice that it's there until you read closely and connect things together.

Paul and Julian's relationship... head in hands. It's so toxic and codependent but because I went into this knowing that this was not going to end well, I was just mesmerised by their dynamic and how they worked both well and terribly together. they didn't make me cry (I only cried during that one scene with Paul and his mother upon the first read bc lol I'm bi) but I felt like I could. this is, like, the perfect execution of a toxic and addictive back-and-forth type of relationship. the motifs with the butterflies and how Paul views beauty, pairing it with violence; the murder and how they see it as a way to mend their relationship because this is something to be kept between them, if one gets ratted out, so does the other; how Paul clung onto Julian's "I know you can do better" attitude from when they first met but it's just another manifestation of and outlet for Paul's self hatred. this book is so subtle in many ways I'm gonna drive myself off a cliff /j

Paul's family was really nice representation of a well-meaning family that just doesn't understand. you see it in the way of Paul being a self-centred 17-year-old and also from a queer perspective. the nuance in general in this book was really good. and also, Paul so felt autistic to me, I don't want to say I related to everything about him because... yeah no, but when he overanalysed everything and everyone, trying to react in ways that he's 'supposed to', being shy and aloof, I could go on.

it is very slow, but it is a literary character study and you do have to pay attention to a lot of the things that are said because I missed out on quite a few things on my first read through. you don't get to the murder until the last two parts and it did drag on during the middle so know that going in. personally, the depth we go into Paul and Julian's characters made up for it, but for more plot-driven folk, this might not be for you. this story focuses on morality, toxic relationship and self-hatred, do keep that in mind.

the grasp this story has over me has been subtle until the point of realisation and I think that's what sticks out the most to me. (I gave it a second read and listened to the author talk about it as well as what other readers thought about it to fully get every little bit of what this story was trying to say. I think I'm just off the edge of finishing the denial stage of my obsession with this). definitely getting a physical copy.

and that last line. don't talk to me.

Content Warnings