A masterpiece of a retelling, Chloe Gong places two of Shakespeare's most famed characters as leaders of gangs, in the midst of uncovering the source of an epidemic raging through 1926 Shanghai. Thrilling, immensely detailed, and compelling at each turn, Gong puts a whole new twist on Romeo and Juliet retellings, placing the power right where it has always been: in Juliet's hands.
Chloe Gong is a student at the University of Pennsylvania, studying English and international relations. During her breaks, she's either at home in New Zealand or visiting her many relatives in Shanghai. Chloe has been known to mysteriously appear when "Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare's best plays and doesn't deserve its slander in pop culture" is chanted into a mirror three times. You can find her on Twitter @thechloegong or check out her website at thechloegong.com. You can find more of my reviews of Chloe's works here.
The year is 1926 and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, numbing the city to its chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper girl who has returned to begin her duties 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 fave fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, who was Juliette's first love until he betrayed her. But when gangsters on both sides start 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 aside and work together no matter their personal grudges. For if they cannot contain this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule. In this spectacular reimagining of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, debut author Chloe Gong brings readers on a heart-stopping journey of violence, passion, and star-crossed fates.
Fans of Romeo and Juliet will revel in the hidden details Gong includes right from the start. The intense heat that sparks violence, the naming of the characters, specific elements (a balcony, anyone?) and more will all be familiar to Shakespeare's biggest fans. If you're a big fan of the play—like myself—you will deeply appreciate the amount of work Gong went to incorporate different elements of the original, from the most iconic stage piece to something as small as the language and words used. However, if you're looking for a Romeo and Juliet retelling that ends with a bunch of familiar faces dead and the two warring sides reconciling, you won't find that within the pages of These Violent Delights. Instead, Gong spins her own tale of past love reigniting, and of characters who can hold it together just a little bit better than Shakespeare's. There is deceit, and excitement, and new characters mixing in with the old to spice up the old classic. It is this combination—of the things we recognize to the ones we are so glad Gong wrote into existence—that makes These Violent Delights a masterful retelling.
Historical fantasy is such an ambitious genre that Gong tackles with grace and intrigue. Because historical fantasy (more than any type of fantasy, or historical work) has to balance the real with the imagined, a story can get buried under the details. The exact opposite is true for These Violent Delights, which actually finds its strength in the weaving together of historical and fantastical details to set an atmosphere and mystery that keeps readers turning the pages long after lights out. It is so easy to get immersed in Shanghai, both as a city in its own right in the 1920s, and a city that is overrun by sickness with no cure in sight (we all know that one is a bit more relatable than we'd like to admit). On a craft level, Gong opening some of her chapters in a "setting the scene" type way works effectively both to mimic the original play's format, while also doing important work to tie together the details of this world together. While Gong admits to not having full access to history, or to moving some components around to work for the story, I never once felt like this Shanghai couldn't have existed. That's just how real it all was.
I picked up These Violent Delights late, I will admit, and before I did, I had noticed so many of the fans falling in love with Roma and Juliette—of course, seeing as how it is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, it would only make sense that their love story would take up a lot of the stage. I was actually surprised when the love story between the two of them was more subtle—sure, they share moments, and a history that never gets fully detailed on the page, and they share a world. Readers only get glimpses, though, and it is these glimpses that have us yearning for more. I was surprised at how much Roma's and Juliette's individual characters were built up, and balanced with the supporting characters of Kathleen, Benedikt, and Marshall (and their arcs)—but not in a bad way. In doing this, Gong connects readers to characters they might not have fully understood in the original. Gong gives these supporting characters moments to shine, and develop, while working to also build anticipation for where Juliette and Roma are going to go in the sequel.
I mentioned in the introduction that Gong places all the power in her retelling back to the one character who always had it: Juliet. And this is very much the case. Juliette Cai is a complex character—willing to commit violence to save the people she loves, solely motivated by that ambition, and refusing to give up that power. She uses her position when it is advantageous to her, even if it puts her reputation on the line. On the other hand, while Roma clearly cares about his family, he's a bit more practical and peacemaking, which gets him into a bit more trouble than if he'd just been more forthright. This, more than anything, is a dynamic I'm so glad Gong incorporated into the novel; for Romeo is the softest character between the two in the play, whereas Juliet is the character who comes into herself by the play's end and regains agency by choosing her own path. Juliet is the character who grows and compels the action of the play, not Romeo (who, let's be honest, wouldn't do much without Juliet present). Gong understood this character dynamic and expanded upon it in These Violent Delights, faithfully recognizing that Juliet's power is synonymous with the power of the play—so naturally, the power of These Violent Delights can only come from a lead as powerful as Juliette.
With that cliffhanger, it's no surprise every fan of Gong's has been counting down the days until the release of Our Violent Ends. The sequel and finale of the duology is available wherever books are sold, and stay tuned for my review!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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