Thank you for the spoilers (▰˘◡˘▰). So the reason why George is not one of the victim in spite of being the last one ( among the 4 of them ) to join the group is because he is Hugh's pet/lover? Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm glad Raymond is a strong minded person.
Do you think you can recommend any similar to this... Sorry I just love to read dark novels/mangas...but can't seem to find any.. If you want if not no worries
i actually got some details wrong, but essentially, no George is 100% a victim who experienced the same thing as raymond but when he and hugh fell in love, his status elevated from pet to lover. and since he became as depraved as Hugh, and Hugh didnt magically change, in order for their dysfunctional relationship to work, they needed another toy, a scapegoat, to be abused in george's place while they be Lovey-dovey. however hugh does "rape" George in front of the four to fuck with raymond's mind, which i have no doubt George was fine with. which is why i say although they are in a loving relationship they can never bc equal bc one party is completely submissive to the other.
ngl this is the first dark thriller bl that made my head spin and compelled me to write half an essay on the story. it's the darkest yet most well-written dark bl i know so i dont have anything else that measures up to this standard. all other dark bls i read just isn't as good as Bad Life and/or had the cliche power imbalance dynamic so i cant in good faith rec those to u.
I have to say this one and one that I'm currently reading kinda have the same vib but take different routes in how the situation was bein handled... They could almost have the same plot... But I understand what you mean.
It's okay. Thank you for the spoilers (●'◡'●)ﾉ
oh what story are u reading?
Kind of curious too
Idk maybe you already heard of it or read it but its called ( Thinking in reverse) it's still new but the novel is already finished (it's like what people say the novels are better)... Maybe some people may disagree with me cuz to them it may not seem to carry the same vibe and or have the same plot but to me it kinda does..but idk if you have read it or plan to give it a try but I would like to hear your guys thoughts... ?
Yes that one.. Idk if you read it but in my case its good tho it did make me feel the ick in some parts it's still a good read if your into dark psychology stories...it has its way of keeping me interested...
Same. That story has its way to keep me interested too. Well,have you read Warehouse ( it's completed ), No Reason ( completed ), Yian's Binding ( ongoing ) ?. Since we're both reading Dark, psychological and adult genre manhwa,I think I can recommend these manhwas to you,if you haven't read them yet.
I love wearhouse it's one of my favorites and no reason I have to their good to tho I haven't read Yian Binding I'm gonna have to read it.. Thank you for recommending them to me I appreciate it.. It's nice to find people with similar interests.. :)
I send you a follow hope it's not weird or uncomfortable... ?
I'm fine with it. I'm happy to have someone with similar interests (▰˘◡˘▰)
ive read some chapters of this. so there's Stockholm syndrome too? what makes u say it's similar to bad life?
Hopefully we can share more mangas and novels... :)
look, as chronically online person who read a ton of toxic red flag "dark romances", ill take this type of story any day over than some smut-filled rapist apologist romanticized story where a rapist becomes a good lover bc he falls for mc, whom he hitherto treated as a sex toy, and it becomes wholesome bc the mc "fixed" him. at least in this story, jerome only raped raymond bc he was driven crazy with a need for revenge and lacked autonomy bc he was under the thumb of hugh's family. and even then, it only lasted one arc, in which he came to respect mc's strong will to not break and perseverance, which was the groundwork for his future actions helping mc. for the rest of the arcs, since he wasn't compelled to, he doesn't SA mc again until mc is willing, and made no acts to appear to care about him until the most critical moments. he legitimately has no power and authority to wield, and that one time he helps mc at the risk of exposing himself, he actually suffers the consequences and is drugged and made a spectacle (and at that point, Raymond still despised jerome and contributed in humiliating jerome). and why this is such a significant act is bc jerome was actually treated the same way as raymond, and this is the basis for his revenge, so he basically willingly risked undergoing the same trauma again and sacrificing the revenge he worked on for ~15 years just to help raymond. and this isnt the only selfless act he did for mc. novel jerome is 10x more compelling and complex than your typical black flag ml will ever be. but if u want cliche powerful capricious rapist ml who submits to mc after hitherto forcing him to his whims, this just isn't for u. if u want a cathartic revenge story, ultimately it is (Raymond gets his revenge and so does jerome) but it is also a very gritty and nuanced exploration of Stockholm syndrome, depicting realistically to a degree the self-gaslighting, self-hatred, resignation, and emotional dependency of the victims.
let me mention as well, Raymond doesn't fall for jerome even after his enacting revenge twice and knowing jerome is a victim too and ONLY after jerome saves his life, and this was the catalyst to choosing love over hatred for the sake of his own survival. yes he has stockholm syndrome, but it was neither affection or sympathy, it was just a parasitic emotional bond based on trauma. after raymond tried to kill jerome at the end of the first arc, he actually managed to kill him in the third but he immediately revived him not bc of love but bc of said emotional bond. it was then he realized he couldn't live without "the boys" even when he desperately wanted to kill them. he couldn't move on from them either, so the only way to survive in the world with them was to give up on revenge, suppress hatred, and resign to love instead. after more than a decade of hate. it had nothing to do with "he's changed to someone I can love so I should give him a chance". (and if u think this is stupid, jerome thinks so as well. he is the one to reignite raymond's hatred.) the author makes it very fucking clear that what jerome did is unforgivable and even if he beg and save mc it would not rectify his wrongs, and this is reflected in jerome's actions when he keeps a distance from mc even after mc falls for him and only tries to seduce him/be openly affectionate and kidnap him to a remote inn to live together away from reality when mc loses his memories of his trauma (ngl was my fav part of the novel cuz it provided a lot of insight on jerome's character). and when mc recovers his memories, jerome becomes cold and wants to run away again. anyway, that's why I think this is better than the stories where the narrative pussyfoots around making rapist MLS not quite irredeemable bc they were raised into an arrogant POS, had a sad backstory, and/or the mc "enjoyed" the sex.
ill also say, that the other characters (hugh & George) and (nicholas & Christine) actually exemplify what happens to a unromanticized relationship based on stockholm syndrome if the victim didn't have the necessary mental resilience and the abuser doesn't see their lover as equals and still wanted to control them. hugh remain an abusive scum even after falling for George, who in turn became as twisted as hugh and just gaslighted himself to accept being his pet and sex toy bc of love. the victim of the second couple couldn't gaslight themselves into being happy, but he also couldn't reconcile his love and hatred. so he chose to go down the path of death. (raymond & jerome) only end up together bc raymond is mentally strong enough and jerome is just a traumatized normal person who loves raymond more than his own life but is completely aware of his own sins. all in all, if u can handle these types of dark thriller stories, this is for u; u can criticize the literary tropes themselves, but u cant immediately dismiss the story as "bad" just for having them if u haven't even read it.