Review: Gong does Shakespeare proud with her debut “These Violent Delights.” 

 

Using “Romeo and Juliet” as the basis for her fantasy novel, Gong adds historical elements surrounding 1920s Shanghai to create something wholly new and unique. The context she provides about the atmosphere in China at this time is beautifully woven into her immersive prose, painting a realistic account of the past blurred by the addition of monsters and madness. It is clear that Gong is skilled at her craft and takes great care in her research as evidenced by the informative author’s note at the end.  

 

To further diverge from Shakespeare’s play, Gong invites the reader to take part in unravelling the mystery revolving around the deaths stacking up in the city. She concocts clever plot twists that leave the reader on edge, making the big reveals all the more shocking and surprising. 

 

Gong also diversifies Shakespeare’s characters, which is something that I thoroughly appreciated. A majority of the Scarlet Gang’s members, including Juliette Cai, Rosalind Lang, and Kathleen Lang, are Chinese. Oftentimes their dialogue and internal dialogue is written in Shanghainese, a form of dialect spoken in the city where the novel takes place. The Montagovs, Roma and Benedikt, are Russian, and their fellow White Flower Marshall Seo is Korean. 

 

Aside from racial and ethnic representation being present, many of Gong’s characters identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Kathleen, for instance, identifies as a transgender woman and both Marshall and Benedikt are queer. 

 

All these characters and more have their viewpoints featured in “These Violent Delights,” giving the reader access to both dialogue and internal thought (the latter being absent from Shakespeare’s dramatic works). 

 

“These Violent Delights” will not be a novel that I soon forget. It perfectly sets the stage for the tragedy that is sure to follow in “Our Violent Ends.”