These Violent Delights: A Novel

I was very excited to learn of this novel by queer, Jewish new author Micah Nemerever. I am fascinated with stories about gays gone bad and intense same-gender relationships. The author has described These Violent Delights as a love story and oh, there's a dash of murder too. And as suggested by the title's source, it is indeed a tragic love story. I only had to read a few pages to know that this one would wreck me. Nemerever does an excellent job setting up how the protagonists meeting makes for a perfect storm. Beneath a mild-mannered exterior, Paul Fleischer is a powder keg of self-loathing and deep-seated rage. His family is close-knit but unsure how to get through to him. His grandfather and older sister in particular are believable as supporting characters. I really felt for their struggle as they realize how deeply troubled their grandson and brother really is, while still coping with the recent death of Paul's father by suicide. Paul befriends Julian Fromme during their freshman year at an unnamed Pittsburgh university. They soon develop an all-consuming emotional and physical relationship. Julian already has one foot out the door with his wannabe-WASP family, who aren't interested in hearing what their son actually wants or needs (most certainly not when his desires include Paul, a working-class boy who dares to keep kosher in front of Mr. Fromme's country club friends). Neither boy has any other close friends at school. This sense of alienation make Paul and Julian's increasing recklessness all the more believable: they have nothing to lose. Historical context is also incorporated without it feeling preachy or like a period piece. In addition to the Vietnam War, the author also explores American Jewish identity and generational trauma in the decades following the Holocaust. Then there is the sexuality aspect that isn't explored in depth but is always in the background. This is pretty true to life for most queer Americans of that era: Neighbors whisper, both families worry that their sons are a little too close. The American Psychiatric Association only voted to remove homosexuality from their manual of disorders in December 1973 (without giving away spoilers, that's rather late in this book's timeline). In this story, any disapproval of Julian and Paul's relationship - whether due to period-typical homophobia or legitimate concerns that these boys are miserable - only fuels their "us against the world" mentality. And when it all unravels, it is devastating. And so beautifully written too. I'm usually a fast reader but I deliberately read this book in small increments, so I could really savor every word and fully digest each chapter. Now that I've reached the end, I'm pleased to say that I was right when I said this book would leave me GUTTED. It hit all my buttons, in the best way. These Violent Delights was everything I expected, plus a few shocking plot twists. (And a final couple of lines that took me several weeks to decipher.) Hats off to the author for an impressive debut.

A deeply disturbing, utterly gripping book. Its sources are clear - Raskolnikov, Leopold & Loeb, the tortured souls trying to find their place in a world they fail to understand. It's unyieldingly harrowing, but brilliantly composed. Paul comes from working-class Pittsburgh. In college, he falls desperately in love with Julian, from a rich family outside Washington, DC. Julian's mother comes from European wealth - but Jewish money, which makes them parvenus in their rarified circles. Still, money is money, and Julian's family plays by the WASP rules; they join the right clubs and throw the right parties. Their son being gay is utterly unimaginable to both families. Far worse, Paul's social anxiety is off the charts. He cannot afford to live on campus, and takes the bus to school. He is desperately out of his depths in class and in Class. His self-loathing is so profound that he cannot accept his lover's affection as anything other than a malignant strike at Julian's upper-crust parents. The two teenagers share a deeply tortured relationship, with each twisting the other in knots to prove their affection. Needless to say, their sexual encounters easily turn violent. Although discreetly portrayed, these intimate moments are nonetheless a vivid depiction of their profound troubles, with themselves and each other. Like Raskolnikov, they hit upon the Nietzschean solution - to kill another, less worthy person. Somehow, this will cement their abiding love for one another. To say more will ruin the unfolding of events - the tortuous family encounters on both sides, the poisonous nature of their relationship, the dreadful uncertainty that both teens share that each is unworthy of the other. It's deeply upsetting, but completely gripping. I'm not sure I've seen such a naked portrait of two young men with such complex identity issues, whose insatiable thirst for one another drives both of them toward madness. The story is told entirely from Paul's perspective, thus Julian remains more than a bit opaque. But that is both our antihero's fascination and their mutual ruin. A tough read, but a brilliant debut.

Writer lost track of the plot halfway through. He had a strong start then it started to just go to a bunch of filler. Was hard to get through the end

Well, this book absolutely gutted me. I think I'll be having a book hangover for awhile after reading Micah Nemerever's epic These Violent Delights . There's absolutely no way that I believe that this is Micah's debut novel, because the prose is so wickedly beautiful. It's being compared as The Secret History meets Call Me By Your Name, and I can definitely see that, but honestly, this book is better than both of them. These Violent Delights takes place in 1970s Pittsburgh and centers around two main characters, Paul Fleischer and Julian Fromme. Paul and Julian are two freshman students joining college and connect instantaneously during their first interaction in class. They are immediately drawn together, but they couldn't be more different. Paul is a shy, artistic, loner; while Julian is wealthy, charismatic, and cunning. The two immediately form a fast friendship, but little did they know that this friendship would grow more intense each day. As Paul and Julian's friendship grows, the bond quickly turns to love. Their love is so powerful, so beautiful (and steamy!), but also so dark. Their love grows eventually forms into obsession and violence. The two form an unhealthy, yet captivating romantic bond, that allows the two of them to become stronger in their own way. This bond cannot be broken and anyone who steps in their way will have to suffer the consequences. Whew, this book is heavy on my heart. Never has a book triggered me with so many emotions. At first, the writing seemed a bit dense and difficult to get through, but then I realized, oh wait Dennis, you're just not as smart as Micah Nemerever so PUSH THROUGH. I eventually got the hang of the intellectual conversations had between the characters and fell right into the trap of this book's atmospheric content. These Violent Delights has the perfect slow building suspense that you just get immersed into the story. I could not put this book down if you tried to pry it from my hands. I just couldn't. I loved My Violent Delights so much for many reasons, but I think the main reason was that this story is so different than other novels in that it felt like it had its own universe of content. It's hard to describe, but I just feel like a lot of literary fiction works lately have just a straightforward plot, from beginning to end. With My Violent Delights , there's just so many details that encompass everything that you just can't help but take notice. For example, I double checked and reread the ending twice, and I never do that. I read some chapters over and took pictures of quotes (so I can share on publication day) as well. I can picture myself actually rereading this book again, without any doubt. I also loved the romance between Paul and Julian and how it teetered on the balance of pain and pleasure, and of security and controversy. I can probably go on and on about why I loved this book so much, but I think you get the hint. It may be a bit early to state this, but My Violent Delights may very well be my favorite book of 2020.

To give this three stars... to give this four stars... I'm still not sure where I land on this book overall. It's impossible to avoid comparisons to other dark academia books and I kind of hate doing it because, like, I don't compare two fantasy books for both having magic systems and wizards, but I think that within the genre (of those I've read so far) this one is just okay enjoyment wise, but definitely a lot more theme-heavy and has a real point of view as opposed to a lot of other stories that lean into the tropes of ~dark academia~. I love a bit of murder, I love a bit of darkness, I love a psychological study of somebody borderline off the rails, but although the actual murder section of this book was really good, it lacked the page-turner OOH WHATS GONNA HAPPEN factor that things like A Lesson and Vengeance, The Atlas Six, and If We Were Liars really had going for them. That being said, I think that the characters of Paul and Julien were really well done even though I didn't like either character very much at all (then again, they're not good people so I don't think I was supposed to). The author mentions in his author's note at the end that Paul and Julien are supposed to represent the obsession and toxicity that can occur in what he refers to as 'identity-consuming romantic friendships' and I think that aspect of the story was executed perfectly. I put this book down for a really long time because Julien, one of the central protagonists, was really getting on my nerves since he seemed to exhibit every single aspect of the 'dark, dramatic, wannabe hipster/rich kid befriends shy, poorer kid' archetype and I wasn't really in the mood for reading that kind of unbalanced dynamic again. Paul was so much more interesting at the beginning but by the later half of the book, I loved how the power dynamic shifted and as Julien reveals more of his true feelings and care for Paul, Paul grows darker, meaner, and, frankly, more annoying. I think last 200 pages of this book bring it up from a 3 to a 4 star read and I really liked the ending. I tore through the last few chapters. This book is more character study than it is plot-driven and if you can get past the kinda cliché first hundred pages or so when your like 'yeah, I've read this before, okay I see where this is going' then it's worth it.

At the end of the story, there's a note by Nemerever explaining his muse for this novel. The end of the story itself felt a little too anti-climactic, though it tied in very neatly with a recurring theme. However, after reading the Author's Note, the entire story just kind of clicked. All the puzzle pieces instantly fell in to place, and it suddenly made sense how Nemerever was able to put Paul's and Julian's (but especially Paul's) sometimes-cute-but-usually-disturbing emotions and thoughts into words. Overall, the story itself is sometimes hard to read. Both from a psychological level, and because Nemerever's writing style can be a little difficult for those without college-level reading comprehension skills. His writing style worked very well during a particular section of the novel where the secondary characters were particularly pretentious, but, again, Nemerever explains after the end of the story why he chose to use that particular writing style. Overall, I liked the book very much. There's a lot of raw emotion that the reader needs to process, and it can be a bit of a roller-coaster at times, but it mirrors the experience of young love.

This is my favorite kind of story. Almost a historical fiction, thriller, with queer characters and toxicity. The pacing was amazing and I loved seeing through the minds of these two boys who think themselves geniuses. How their relationship grows into something that should never be. They feed off of each other in a way a lot of toxic relationships do. I really enjoyed it and it was set in the perfect time. Everything was based in reality and how people operate. With this cynical view of the world I was able to relate to Paul in some ways. Being queer is never an easy life and we watch it become impossible for him to contain. I really enjoyed this book and think is has a great balance of genres. I highly recommend.

I'm giving this book 4 stars only because the characters were so flawed and raw that I hated them so much. They got under my skin, as they did each other and there's something beautiful about creating characters like that. I can't remember if there were trigger warnings but make sure to look them up before reading, it might be distressing to some people. When I started reading this book I didn't see where it was going, it was unexpected at every turn, yet filled with an intangible fear of what was coming that kept you on the edge of your seat. This triggered my anxiety that I had to put this book down several times and even though of not reading it anymore because of all I was feeling. And let's talk about that ending!!!!! I had to go back and read back some parts to see if it meant what I thought it meant. Beautiful. Do I recommend it? Yes, but not to everyone. Read TW before you do.

There’s honestly only one thing I’m disappointed about with this book, and it’s how late I found out about it. Also, the fact that I read what is now part of my top5 favorite books of all time as the first book I read this year- the competition for all the other 2021 books on my TBR has become very serious. It was hard for me to put this book down, and I devoured it in impatience until the last devastating page. In These Violent Delights, we follow the stormy relationship between Paul Fleischer and Julian Fromme. “Stormy” here is quite a euphemism, and “toxic”, “bloody”, “destructive” and “overly co-dependent” might all be more fitting words for Paul and Julian’s bond. The reader is very quickly pulled in by Paul’s rampant self-hatred and his idealization of Julian as an almost god-like figure of confidence, wealth, and protection. Their relation becomes romantic quite early on, and we realize just as fast how unhealthy they both are for each other. Seeing them evolve, all from Paul’s point of view, going further and further to entertain their bond and put their devotions to each other to every extreme test possible, makes this novel all the more interesting. The running metaphors of Paul’s obsession with collecting butterfly specimens and the couple’s liking for chess are masterfully handled, and culminate in one of the most satisfying endings I have read- an ending that feels like a slap in the face, but in a good way. [spoiler] and, dare I say, horrifying in that the reader, in some part of their mind, knows this was going to happen all along. Paul’s rhetoric that beautiful things have to be killed, frozen in their beauty by the eternity of death for him to enjoy them forever, is such a delicate way of leading us to the story’s conclusion - and what is to be told about the devastating “The opening move was circled in red”! [ end spoiler] One of course knows this is not going to be a happy story - after all, the title comes from quite a grim Shakespearian quote: “These violent delights have violent ends /And in their triumph die, like fire and powder/ Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey / Is loathsome in his own deliciousness”, a quote which by itself summarizes the spirit of the book quite properly.

Okay maybe a couple but really it's for the characters themselves, like... as people, not the author. Just my cup of tea.

please buy it

Para ler

This book! This book! It's in my top five, which is a very difficult place to reach. The writing is first class. The story is dark but very human and real. Anyone that was ever a teenager can relate. The Jewish rep is outstanding. To see Jewish characters represented without that being the subject of the book was great. The use of Jewish concepts and Hebrew words was very clever... Never explaining too much, but enough that anyone with Google can satisfy their curiosity. It made me want to love, and to hate. This book must be read. When people say it's a cross between Call Me By Your Name and The Secret History, on a simple level that is because it's the perfect blend of obsession and young-adulthood, but it's also the quality of the writing. Outstanding as a first novel. Outstanding if it was his 100th novel. Michah I'm in awe.