Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

9 reviews

patriciapueyolopez'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Violence, Emotional abuse, Death, Suicide, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Gore

Moderate: Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Classism

Minor: Stalking, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, and Classism

paulawind's review

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 

---

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

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

---

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

irissantos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Não fazia a mínima ideia do que esperar quando comecei a ler.
Gosto de ir com as expectativas em aberto, e costuma ser boa ideia.

Foi complicado engrenar na leitura porque a maior parte da narração gira à volta do desenvolvimento e paisagem psicológicos dos personagens e por vezes perdi noção do que estava a acontecer no mundo físico do enredo.

Assim que fiz o "aquecimento" consegui ler o resto num quarto do tempo que me levou a ler a primeira metade.

O foco deste livro é o que acontece quando um adolescente dá ouvidos e alimenta a sua fúria da adolescência, auxiliado por um parceiro narcisista e arrogante.

Juntos acreditam que podem tudo e que são mais astutos que todos. Enquanto isso a sua relação colapsa, é fragmentada e colada de novo, uma e outra vez, com promessas vazias e uma montanha russa tóxica de lovebombing e afastamentos repentinos.

Uma excelente obra de estreia deste autor.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Addiction, and Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty

iridaceae's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and War

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Colonisation, Drug use, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gun violence, Police brutality, Racism, Torture, and Vomit

camsara99's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

mezzano's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

These Violent Delights is a beautifully written debut novel which also happens to be a book I thoroughly disliked reading. Paul and Julian have their tender and loving moments which make the tragedy believable, but the setting and writing comes across as overly pretentious and showy. Before any real crime or violence took place in the novel, I already disliked the characters. Their mistakes and the late-book drama felt stale as I found it impossible to feel any sympathy of Julian OR Paul. By creating a world rich with imagery and prestige, the leads become less desirable as protagonists.

 Considering this is a debut novel the book is written masterfully, but if a character-driven novel has characters who are hard to love, the story will be difficult to finish.  Some good notes in this book which do land well is the corruptive power of money and influence. Paul is dragged into Julian's world of power and charisma, and learns that a posh world is the opposite of an honest one. Unlike other reviews, I did enjoy certain aspects of the ending of the book, such as when Paul needs to face the reality of his past actions alone.  At its highest points, These Violent Delights is intoxicating, but the hangover the highs leads isn't worth the effort. The drama could have been easily prevented with characters that had an ounce more common sense or empathy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

rotatinglibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

This book is dark. Like reading next to a candle stub in a hurricane dark. It’s also beautifully written. The style reminds me specifically of the Vegas chapters of The Goldfinch. 

Near the climax of the book, These Violent Delights becomes almost a satire. Paul’s violence and Julian’s black moods feel contrived. 
They wait for each other to make the next move, never anticipating their own. Other elements in this book do feel real, though. Paul’s sisters and their aloofness, his mother’s anxious fluttering. Julian’s loathing of his family’s wealth and status. The fury of other people just being wrong and not caring. 

Can I say I liked this book? Not really. It disturbed me. It stuck in my head for days after I finished it. I don’t exactly recommend it. If you want an example of stellar writing of a festering immature relationship gone to hell, this is it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Antisemitism, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

Other content warnings:drugging, kidnapping, stammer, injury, car accident, codependency, politics, profanity

biblioleah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book reads like heartache. it is a book about people who are hurting and in turn want to hurt the world for what it’s done to them. it is not a love story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship