--- product_id: 272173938 title: "These Violent Delights: A Novel" price: "NT$1050" currency: TWD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tw/products/272173938-these-violent-delights-a-novel store_origin: TW region: Taiwan --- # These Violent Delights: A Novel **Price:** NT$1050 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** These Violent Delights: A Novel - **How much does it cost?** NT$1050 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tw](https://www.desertcart.tw/products/272173938-these-violent-delights-a-novel) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description A Literary Hub Best Book of Year • A Crime Reads Best Debut of the Year • A Newsweek 25 Best Fall Books • A Philadelphia Inquirer 10 Big Books for the Fall • An O Magazine.com LGBTQ Books That Are Changing the Literary Landscape • An Electric Lit Most Anticipated Debut • A Paperback Paris Best New LGBTQ+ Books To Read This Year Selection • A Passport Best Book of the Month The Secret History meets Lie with Me in Micah Nemerever's compulsively readable 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, this dark academia novel introduces a pull Paul can’t resist; he 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 toxic relationship 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. Review: Be Gay, Do Crimes, Break the Reader's Heart - 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. Review: Gripping & disturbing in equal measure - 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. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #78,359 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1,787 in Psychological Thrillers (Books) #3,316 in Suspense Thrillers #3,996 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,476 Reviews | ## Images ![These Violent Delights: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71gz4A4npjL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Be Gay, Do Crimes, Break the Reader's Heart *by K***M on October 18, 2020* 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. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gripping & disturbing in equal measure *by B***K on April 8, 2023* 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. ### ⭐⭐⭐ Wouldn’t recommend *by T***. on April 12, 2026* 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 ## Frequently Bought Together - These Violent Delights: A Novel [Paperback] Nemerever, Micah - Giovanni's Room --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tw/products/272173938-these-violent-delights-a-novel](https://www.desertcart.tw/products/272173938-these-violent-delights-a-novel) --- *Product available on Desertcart Taiwan* *Store origin: TW* *Last updated: 2026-05-30*