romeo & juliet

 I have always been a fan of Romeo & Juliet. I loved reading it for school, I loved all the film adaptations--it was my first real introduction to Shakespeare, and I enjoyed it. It's not my favorite Shakespeare play, but it's probably the one I know the best and the one that I've read, re-read, and re-read again the most. So, I agree with the author of the book I'm currently reading, which is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet, and on the back, on the author description, she says, "Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare's best plays and doesn't deserve its slander in pop culture." And you know what, hell yeah?

(The book is, of course, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, which is R+J retold with the backdrop of 1920s Shanghai + some ~mystical elements.)

The thing with this play is that it is not a grand love story that people interpret right but hate. It has a love story in it, sure, but the real thing about this play is that is the story of two families that couldn't stop acting like children until literally all of their children (except Benvolio, you go Benvolio) are dead. My favorite part of the story is, of course, Benvolio and Mercutio.

(And, so, yes, my favorite part of the book is Benedikt and Marshall, and yes, I've read the spoilers because of who I am as a person even though I haven't gotten to that part yet, because I figured, I know the story????)

Mercutio, mostly. I just fucking love that guy. Some of the writing in Mercutio's lines is just absolutely fucking stunning. When I was in high school I started a fanfiction Long Walk R+J AU (feat.: Garraty is Juliet, McVries is Garraty, obviously, and Mercutio was Abraham), and in my fanfiction I made him completely self-aware of his predicament. Which... he, of course is. Mercutio has had his wonderful portrayals, most notably, for me, anyway,  Harold Perrineau in the Leo diCaprio version. But Mercutio is just such a compelling character that no matter who plays him or what happens, I love him.

(Also, a great part of this book--holy shit, it's not like, an exact retelling of the play but there are so many moments with lines directly from the play and the English major in me is so, so fucking happy about it). 

So, for me, with the play, with all of the adaptations, and with this book, and pretty much with every fucking book on this earth, it's the side characters that do it for me. These Violent Delights just happens to make Romeo and Juliet likable, too.