Choose an overlapping theme from Shakespeare’s play and Gong’s books. Write an essay that explores how Gong’s retelling supports the theme through character, plot, setting, and style.

How does Juliette’s loyalty to “her city, her gang, her family” change across both books? What do you think is more important: loyalty or survival? Explain your answers. The lights went dark. Kathleen glanced over her shoulder, fingers twisting into the loose sleeves of her coat.

I will fight this war to love you, Juliette Cai. I will fight this feud to have you, because it was this feud that gave you to me, twisted as it is, and now I will take you away from it.” Compare strife and tragedy across social classes. Would a laborer working in a factory for sixteen hours a day have time to duel like Roma and Tyler? How would the story change if the main characters were poor? It was Juliette who had escalated the feud, who had pulled the trigger on Marshall Seo and told Roma to his face that whatever happened between them had been nothing but a lie. So now all the blood left in his wake was his revenge. Of course it was hard for him to hurt her now. It went against every fiber of his being. Every cell, every nerve—they had grown into place with one mantra: protect her, protect her.”

Though this story is a work of historical fiction, the “April 12 Purge” is a real event that occurred in Shanghai in 1927. Why do you think the author chose this time and setting to reimagine Romeo and Juliet? How would you remix Romeo and Juliet in contemporary times? What setting and political issues would you highlight? Share your answer. The effort was so forceful that Juliette tasted blood inside her lip, sliced by her own sharp teeth. She stifled a gasp and then another when Roma’s hand tightened around her throat, his eyes murderous. In some ways, Roma’s feelings towards Juliette mirrored her feelings towards him from the first book. It was interesting to see how differently that played out in him though, as a generally softer character. Roma] ached with the knowledge that the softness of their youth was gone forever . . .” What is meant by this? When do you think people realize they are no longer children? Does everyone grow up at the same rate? Why or why not? What does “growing up” mean to you?Better to speak none of it. Better to pretend and pretend until maybe, just maybe, there came some chance to salvage the fractured state this city had fallen into. This balancing act between plot and character development was excellently carried out. It really speaks to Chloe Gong’s talent as a writer! Romance and angst worthy of the Bard Some of the characters around Roma and Juliette seemed not to be handled as well. The main one who felt off to me, particularly compared to the first book, was Rosalind. I felt like her character was all over the place, and the way she behaved towards Kathleen and Juliette was inconsistent. She seemed to be building up to some kind of conflict with them in book one, and this felt like it vanished into thin air in Our Violent Ends. The plot is a tangled, complex beast S--t," "goddammit," "damn," and a phrase in Chinese that isn't translated but which Google translates as "damn it."

When I tell you that I was sure Our Violent Ends was going to be the death of me, I meant it, dear reader.Dumb book with a very predictable storyline. Common sense forgot to review in the sex/romance section that there is kissing between characters of the same sex. Unless you want your kids exposed to that, don't read this book. All in all, really not a good story. The main thing keeping Roma and Juliette apart is this deception, Juliette refusing to tell him that she saved Marshall. Given that this sort of thing normally annoys me, I actually thought Chloe Gong did a great job in Our Violent Ends to make that feel reasonable. Juliette isn’t just being overdramatic; she has good reasons to keep this secret. Don’t be a fool, Juliette scolded herself. She had tipped herself into this situation at full speed. She would not regret it. It was what had needed to be done. What could possibly be more important than this?” Kathleen asked. They took their seats: the front-most row by the second-level railing, a perfect view of both the screen and all the people beneath. “Staring angrily at your bedroom wall, as you have been doing these few months?” You were three paces away from the merchant,” she said. She was surprised her voice remained level. Ta ma de. There was one knife strapped to her leg, but in the time it would take to reach for it, she would be giving Roma plenty of time to shoot. “You left him just to find me? I’m flattered—”

I killed him because he needed to die,” Juliette said. Her arm whipped up. She twisted Roma’s gun away, letting it clatter at their feet. “Just as I will kill you. Just as I will not stop until you kill me—”One of the greatest strengths of Our Violent Ends is the way it balances a heavier, meatier plot with character development. Although I did enjoy the plot of These Violent Delights, the story arc really becomes stronger and gains momentum in Our Violent Delights. If you’re familiar with Chinese history, you can more or less figure out what are the major events featured. I really appreciated how the author interweaves the the events of leading up to the Chinese Civil War with the mystery of the Shanghai monster. I was so absorbed and immersed into this world! She didn’t mean it. She knew Roma Montagov. He thought he wanted her dead, but the fact of the matter was that he never missed, and yet he had—all those bullets, embedded into the walls instead of Juliette’s head. The fact of the matter was that he had his hands around her throat and yet she could still breathe, could still inhale past the rot and the hate that his fingers tried to press into her skin. Juliette did not move. She must have hesitated for a fraction too long, because Roma’s expression morphed into a sneer.