If I had to describe the vibe of the kind of book I wanted to read this Fall it would be a book that was equally pretentious and self-indulgent as The Secret History but with more homoerotic undertones. These Violent Delights delivers on all counts and gets bonus points for having a queer relationship as the bedrock of the novel. To be fair, I'm a sucker for pretentious college books so I was predisposed to like this book regardless. But Nemerever's use of language sets this novel apart as it entangles the reader deeper into the obsessive whirlwind of Paul and Julian's relationship the further you read. The entire novel keeps you on a precipice, anticipating the ugly drop that always feels just a few pages away.

Given the vibe of the novel, it would be easy for it to fall victim to it's own pretension. Nemerever manages to overcome this by his impressive work with the narrative. Framing the novel from Paul's uncompromising point of view adds an extra layer of complexity to the central relationship. The "real" Julian feels just out of reach as we only get a perception of him that's filtered through Paul's self-loathing. Paul constantly tries to fix Julian into this mould of easy perfection in his narrative, which would get boring or tiresome in other novels; but Nemerever spools the plot with enough glimpses to remind the reader that Julian is just as complicated and human as Paul. This adds another layer to their relationship and makes it feel all the more human. As the plot progresses, you can't help but get just as obsessed with their relationship as they are with each other and that makes for an exquisite and unsettling read. It's a feat to keep a reader engaged for over 400 pages, but These Violent Delights managed to keep me invested throughout.