Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

54 reviews

ghostsversion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

Right so this was my second read of this book and I have thoughts. First off I have to say that I changed my rating from 4.5 ⭐️ to 3.75 ⭐️. One of my biggest issues was the pacing of the book. Or rather how the plot moved forward. Like many chapters felt very "Tell not show" in regards to backstories and stuff. The characters were interesting (kind of) but they didn't feel as cool and smart as I was told by the book itself. Overall I did like the book as it had some cool moments but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was great. Hoping the following books are better though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Alcohol, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Transphobia, and Medical content

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Sexism, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Homophobia

packedjam's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

this book is insane and right up my alley. it’s like if you infused romeo and juliet with the adventurous books i read in my youth and set it in 1920s shanghai. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Genocide, Alcohol, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

Minor: Drug abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Transphobia, and War

grace_of_avi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Gun violence, and Genocide

Moderate: Colonisation and Misogyny

Minor: Sexism, Racism, and Classism

sauvageloup's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

considering I got this book by accident, it was a great read!

pros: 
- the concept is a great one and I loved that we really get a feel for the setting of shanghai through the story
- also rly enjoyed learning about the history of what was going on at the time in the country. 
- I did like Juliet and Roma a lot, although not so much at the start. Roma is the softer one, which was cool to see, and Juliette the harder one. I liked when she really got to lean into her ferocity and be a bit unhinged. 
- the mystery unfolds well and there were twists and turns i didn't expect
- the side characters on both sides were fab and yay for trans rep. 
- the multilingual bit was great, and I liked the political commentary. 

cons:
- the characters at the start didn't feel very coherent, though that did improve. 
- there was other things but they've gone out of my head 

overall, I did really like this one and I'd read the second one if it was at the library, definitely, but i don't think I'll buy it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Murder, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Torture, Sexism, Body horror, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Transphobia

lady_moon's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

10/04/2022: Oh, the right timing do wonders. I devoured it, despite the slow pace.

Oh, and THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE ENEMIES TO LOVERS, TAKE NOTES PEOPLE. And stop fucking recommending RW&RB, that's an offense to the whole trope

Also, I love Benedikt for no reason but his existential crisis, bye


15/09/2021: It's not you baby, it's me being on the edge of reading slump for more than a month and your slow pacing. And all the hype around you...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexism, Violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug abuse

Minor: Transphobia and Police brutality

eddine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Sexism, and Violence

molly_rose's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Blood, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Murder, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Classism, Colonisation, and Misogyny

a_alene's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Sexism

orshi999's review

emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

These Violent Delights is a re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet that doesn't follow the structure, depending on who you are that might make or break how enjoyable the book is. Despite that I don't think that it takes away from Gong's story at all. For me she was able to bring 1920s Shanghai to life and make me enjoy Romeo and Juliet much more than I did in class.

Writing: The writing and sentence structure makes it hard to read at times. There are long sentences full of description which while needed I feel could've been organized in a more processable way. Gong makes up for it though with her vivid word choice.

LGBTQ+: 

Not only do we have positive Transgender rep we also have possible bisexual/gay rep on both sides?? I think it's great because it seemed organic especially on Kathleen's side and how people act towards her, even her own parents and the people she interacted with before she transitioned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment and Sexism

Minor: Alcohol