These Violent Delights

A Novel

De: Micah Nemerever

Narrado por: Michael Crouch

An O Magazine LGBTQ Book that Is Changing the Literary Landscape in 2020

An Electric Lit Most Anticipated Debut of the Second Half of 2020

A The Millions Most Anticipated Book of the Year

A Paperback Paris Best New LGBTQ+ Books to Read This Year Selection

The Secret History meets Lie with Me in Micah Nemerever's compulsively enjoyable debut novel - a feverishly taut Hitchcockian story about two college students, each with his own troubled past, whose escalating obsession with one another leads to an act of unspeakable violence.

When Paul enters university in early 1970s Pittsburgh, it’s with the hope of moving past the recent death of his father. Sensitive, insecure, and incomprehensible to his grieving family, Paul feels isolated and alone. When he meets the worldly Julian in his freshman ethics class, Paul is immediately drawn to his classmate’s effortless charm.

Paul sees Julian as his sole intellectual equal — an ally against the conventional world he finds so suffocating. Paul will stop at nothing to prove himself worthy of their friendship, because with Julian life is more invigorating than Paul could ever have imagined. But as charismatic as he can choose to be, Julian is also volatile and capriciously cruel, and Paul becomes increasingly afraid that he can never live up to what Julian expects of him.

As their friendship spirals into all-consuming intimacy, they each learn the lengths to which the other will go in order to stay together, their obsession ultimately hurtling them toward an act of irrevocable violence.

Unfolding with a propulsive ferocity, These Violent Delights is an exquisitely plotted excavation of the depths of human desire and the darkness it can bring forth in us.

©2020 Micah Nemerever (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Eh

I could take it or leave it. The overall voice performance was great but I found myself wanting more with the book itself. The story was compelling enough for me to finish but it was rather bland in many parts. It didn't help that almost none of the characters are all that likeable, especially our main character Paul. I will say I found myself starting to see a softer and better side of Julien as the story progressed but that wasn't till towards the latter half of the book. If you're a fan of an incredibly slow burn check this out, otherwise you should probably just find another book.

All things must end

I loved this story it was all angst and pretentious in the best way possible. From the moment in the woods I could see that they were doomed and that it was only a matter of time and and by the end I found myself only begging for the satisfaction that neither of them would get and neither would I .

Beautiful!

This book was so incredibly beautiful, but in its own tragic way. I loved it.

i love this story

i’m getting the title tattooed on my body lmfao. i was enraptured with it to the point where i was afraid to finish it because it would mean the end

beautiful narrator+story. explained in the review bellow.

the story is beautiful and obsessive and just what i needed now. but mostly i wanna credit the narrator's ability to brilliantly embody the different characters purely by a subtle change of tone, plus managing to portray all the different states of the characters, from arrogance, to anxiety, and even the accurate tremble he voices when needed.big bonus is narrator has one of most pleasant voices ive enjoyed hearing a book audibly. and really delievered all the author wanted us to feel about the characters state was very beautifully done by the narrator.

I was obsessed with this story.

I don't think that I have ever been so intrigued and obsessed by two main characters as I have with Pablo and Julian. A true slow burn of a novel. Wonderfully read and performed.

Excellent book. Hated it.

F*cking miserable. Why do I keep reading literary fiction? Why why why why why why

Best audiobook

Bought the book but it was a bit wordy. Tried listening to the audiobook, and was totally engrossed from beginning to end. And I’m glad I listened to this because the story and characters are unforgettable. And the wordiness I originally found challenging became one of the best parts thanks to the narrator. This book will stay with me for a long time.

Um. I think we’re gonna have to come back to this one.

I SO BADLY WANTED TO LOVE THIS. I kept fast forwarding and not really paying attention but I think I got the gist of it. I will definitely try to read this again in the future.

Favorite audiobook in recent memory

I could not stop listening. The story is incredibly gripping and the narrator does a fantastic job.