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tshepiso 's review for:
These Violent Delights
by Chloe Gong
DID NOT FINISH: 58%
Started on: February 1st, 2022
DNF'd on: February 11th, 2022
DNF'd at: Page 260 (58%)
If I'm being perfectly honest These Violent Delights is the worst book I've read in a while. If I'd been reading this for entertainment exclusively I would have DNF'd it at page 100—if not earlier. But I pushed through as much as I possibly could for a book club. Unfortunately, the reading experience was so miserable I couldn't finish it and maintain my sanity. I tried thinking of something I liked about this book, but honestly, nothing about this story engaged me in any way. Almost everything about it was actively infuriating. These Violent Delights' shallow plot and worldbuilding, paper-thin characters, and eye-roll-inducing romance were a punishment to read.
The plot of this book was less than interesting. We follow the outbreak of a mysterious madness-inducing plague in Shanghai. Protagonists Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai, heirs to the White Rose and Scarlet gangs respectively, are tasked by their parents to uncover its cause. This mystery's sluggish pacing made it impossible to feel any pull toward figuring out what the cause of the madness was. I couldn't find it in me to give a shit about it at all. Maybe if Gong had done a better job of weaving politics into the pandemic plot or give the story any stakes earlier on I would have cared.
What initially drew me to this book was its setting. A 1920s Shanghai gang war sounded exactly like something I would eat up, but unfortunately, every aspect of Gong's worldbuilding in this regard was so flimsy. I never got a true sense of the politics of Shanghai. While Gong made allusions to the impact of colonialism on the city, the rising Communist movement, and the rivalry between the Scarlets and the White Roses the politics of the city was functionally background noise. Basic questions like, 'How do the Scarlets and White Roses influence the city?', 'Why are people loyal to them?' and 'How do they maintain their control over their territory?' were barely addressed almost 300 hundred pages into the novel. I also expect stories like this to truly bring a city to life yet I never felt transported to the Shanghai of this era.
A central element of These Violent Delights was the enemies-to-lovers romance between Juliette and Roma and I cannot understate how teeth-grindingly annoying I found these two. The layers upon layers of melodrama foundational to this romance were absolutely draining to read. The story relies on the angst of the betrayal in the two's history, but because Gong refuses to tell you what fractured their relationship you're left with no understanding of why these two characters used to love each other or their current animosity. The romantic "tension" between these two did nothing for me because I was denied the context required to care. To add insult to injury their banter was trite rather than sexy or intriguing.
Gong also fell into the pitfall of writing incredibly juvenile characters that the audience was supposed to take seriously as dangerous criminals. Roma and Juliette are immature teenagers. I don't begrudge that in a YA book—teens are dumb sometimes. But their immaturity made it impossible to believe they were serious threats. They read like angsty teenagers, not the heirs to spawling criminal empires.
I didn't like anything about These Violent Delights. I'm glad I didn't force myself to finish the book, but I do regret reading as much of it as I did.
DNF'd on: February 11th, 2022
DNF'd at: Page 260 (58%)
If I'm being perfectly honest These Violent Delights is the worst book I've read in a while. If I'd been reading this for entertainment exclusively I would have DNF'd it at page 100—if not earlier. But I pushed through as much as I possibly could for a book club. Unfortunately, the reading experience was so miserable I couldn't finish it and maintain my sanity. I tried thinking of something I liked about this book, but honestly, nothing about this story engaged me in any way. Almost everything about it was actively infuriating. These Violent Delights' shallow plot and worldbuilding, paper-thin characters, and eye-roll-inducing romance were a punishment to read.
The plot of this book was less than interesting. We follow the outbreak of a mysterious madness-inducing plague in Shanghai. Protagonists Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai, heirs to the White Rose and Scarlet gangs respectively, are tasked by their parents to uncover its cause. This mystery's sluggish pacing made it impossible to feel any pull toward figuring out what the cause of the madness was. I couldn't find it in me to give a shit about it at all. Maybe if Gong had done a better job of weaving politics into the pandemic plot or give the story any stakes earlier on I would have cared.
What initially drew me to this book was its setting. A 1920s Shanghai gang war sounded exactly like something I would eat up, but unfortunately, every aspect of Gong's worldbuilding in this regard was so flimsy. I never got a true sense of the politics of Shanghai. While Gong made allusions to the impact of colonialism on the city, the rising Communist movement, and the rivalry between the Scarlets and the White Roses the politics of the city was functionally background noise. Basic questions like, 'How do the Scarlets and White Roses influence the city?', 'Why are people loyal to them?' and 'How do they maintain their control over their territory?' were barely addressed almost 300 hundred pages into the novel. I also expect stories like this to truly bring a city to life yet I never felt transported to the Shanghai of this era.
A central element of These Violent Delights was the enemies-to-lovers romance between Juliette and Roma and I cannot understate how teeth-grindingly annoying I found these two. The layers upon layers of melodrama foundational to this romance were absolutely draining to read. The story relies on the angst of the betrayal in the two's history, but because Gong refuses to tell you what fractured their relationship you're left with no understanding of why these two characters used to love each other or their current animosity. The romantic "tension" between these two did nothing for me because I was denied the context required to care. To add insult to injury their banter was trite rather than sexy or intriguing.
Gong also fell into the pitfall of writing incredibly juvenile characters that the audience was supposed to take seriously as dangerous criminals. Roma and Juliette are immature teenagers. I don't begrudge that in a YA book—teens are dumb sometimes. But their immaturity made it impossible to believe they were serious threats. They read like angsty teenagers, not the heirs to spawling criminal empires.
I didn't like anything about These Violent Delights. I'm glad I didn't force myself to finish the book, but I do regret reading as much of it as I did.