First, there was Thisbe and Pyramus, then Romeo and Juliet, then West Side Story. Now there is These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, the one book that will make you realize just why the art of recrafting age-old stories is still relevant today, when it seems that every possible version of a work has been told. But believe me—it hasn’t.
The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal. But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.
One of the biggest draws to this book was the way in which both Roma and Juliette truly embodied the high stakes of their bloodied star-crossed lovers trope. It’s not often that you find a Romeo/Juliet inspired work that delves into the gritty, guilt-ridden landscape that is family ties and blood feuds. It’s this aspect of the story that really lets the characters shine, giving us time to see Juliette and Roma develop as people outside of their relationship with each other. That’s not something I often see in YA works, especially with male characters. The fact that Roma was able to show his protectiveness, loyalty, and love in ways that weren’t attached to Juliette was wonderful. In that same realm, a strong female character like Juliette, who is influential and confident naturally, is a breath of fresh air to someone who grew up with the “dystopian girl discovers she’s special through the help of her boyfriend” trope. I can only assume Gong, who’s of my same generation, also saw the faults in these portrayals, because These Violent Delights seem almost like a work of counter-culture to those co-dependent relationships.
The only downside to so much time spent on the characters individually, or with their own side casts, is that I was left wanting to believe their romantic love for each other a bit more. The chapters where Gong filled us in with flashbacks—often in the form of small asides given by Juliette about her time with Roma at fifteen—helped me understand their relationship more. However, as is I often felt I was being shown their love more than naturally believing it. The complex familial relationships and friendships were done perfectly, though, and despite feeling that hesitancy with the main couple, I was very much able to feel the sisterly support between Kathleen and Rosalind, and the tension between Marshall and Benedikt. The casual inclusion of queer side characters was also something that I loved. Gong doesn’t pretend it was easy to be queer in 1920s Shanghai, but she also doesn’t erase those characters or make their stories solely about the hardships they would’ve faced for being queer at the time.
Another small, but powerful, choice Gong makes is to leave foreign words unitalicized. We talked about this a lot in my translation classes, but the decision to italicize foreign words is often done for two reasons: to present them as foreign or to draw attention to them so they’re not skimmed over. Most trade media follows the first choice, so it's amazing to see Gong portray the multiculturalism of Shanghai, and especially the native presence of Shanghainese, in a way that’s not foreign, despite the novel being published by a U.S.-based company.
Chloe Gong is the New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and its sequel, Our Violent Ends, as well as Foul Lady Fortune. She is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she double majored in English and international relations. Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, Chloe is now located in New York pretending to be a real adult. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok under @TheChloeGong or check out her website at TheChloeGong.com.
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