At 400-plus pages, Chloe Gong’s debut novel “These Violent Delights” is a massive and engrossing take on “Romeo and Juliet” — and 3/21 in my #21in21 reading challenge.
I’ve long been a sucker for any story about star-crossed lovers, so it should be no surprise that “Romeo and Juliet” is my favorite Shakespeare play.
I loved the idea of Gong’s Roma and Juliette as dueling and deadly gangsters in 1920s Shanghai and wanted to know their whole backstory. The tension and anger between them, their gangs and other power-hungry groups in the city is a palpable ticking time bomb that would be an interesting story in and of itself.
But as that powder keg is getting ready to blow, a “monster madness” begins sweeping through the city, causing Roma and Juliette, the heirs to their respective gangs, to try to figure out why so many of their rank and file and other citizens are suddenly ripping their own throats out.
As they keep running into each other while they investigate on their own, Roma and Juliette realize they have the same goal: finding out who is responsible for this pandemic and how to stop it. So they reluctantly, and secretly, decide to put aside the longtime blood feud between their families and join forces to get answers before it’s too late.
“These Violent Delights” is such a timely read, what with its all-too-familiar raging contagion and culture and race wars, and despite its doorstop size, it’s a quick one.
Gong’s lines are so descriptive that you feel the fear and anxiety of the characters as they race through Shanghai — and every time my scalp itches now, I get the heebie-jeebies.
This is a two-parter, and the second installment, “These Violent Ends,” is slated to be released in November. I definitely look forward to seeing how the story ends for Roma and Juliette — though maybe we already know …
“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life”
Up next: “The Survivors” by Jane Harper
Ink for Blood 