Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Penance

'Yaaaas, queen!' Joni hissed, when she spotted it. 'Slay!
Serving traction alopecia realness.'

This book was absolutely terrible. Did you kill the editor?? Is this actually true crime??? I kept moaning to my friend that it wasn’t over. I spilled wine on it too and I didn’t even care.
It’s like if Skins had a murder plot in it. Or if you enjoyed Bunny by Mona Awad you’ll like this book. But that’s about it. If you like mean girls who kill another girl then this is your tea party.
Prepare yourself for going down rabbit holes that don’t even allign with the storyline anymore. For example: someone’s immigrant aunty’s Indian takeaway and their school experience in Crown-On-Sea. Like does this shit matter? I asked myself this and the answer was no, this is nowhere near the plot. Like at all. So random and frustrating, can we please stop rambling? I was very disappointed and thought this book was going to be a lot better than it was, I didn’t think it was going to be some random jealous girl who kills the girl who talks to her girlfriend. It was also as if the author downloaded tumblr and used it for a week in order to get some lingo, find out what “shipping” was, and how the ask box worked. As someone who was THERE for fanfic tumblr in 2014, it was so yucky.
She literally put an entire chapter of gay school shooter fanfiction. I understand maybe it was to be like ‘ahhh Dolly is sooo fucked up!!!’ but I was reading it starting to wonder if the author published this book just so she could put her fanfiction of school shooters out there. Really odd that she writes in the style of a creepy middle aged man, I’m also pretty sure she made no descriptions of any of these girls, so many names thrown all over the place and then you had to remember their other names. I couldn’t picture a single one of them, as well as “oh that … was that one?” “Which girl did this?”.
I’m confused with the people who actually liked this book.

Content Warnings

coffeecass's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

5.0

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semjl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this book. As someone who was a big tumblr user in my teens (although not in the way these girls use it) I found it quite nostalgic. Also the complex relationships of teenage girls with a mixture of nice upbringings and loving homes vs without.

Felt a bit confused at the end.

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kfergy's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really interesting read, especially as someone who has dipped into the true crime genre but also feels an 'ick' about aspects of the rising interest and production within it. Excellent use of framing, given that the reader is told at the beginning that this is a sus publication. Made me glad I'm not in high school anymore and that Tumblr was in its infancy when I was.

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gilroi's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Penance is the rare book that's compulsively readable while also being delicate and insightful about its subject-- at least for me. Everyone has different standards about what is and isn't impossible to put down, but for me, after reading the first chapter, every moment spent not reading this felt wasted.

It's deftly written while always having incredibly clear prose that is neither 'invisible' or bland-- every word is chosen thoughtfully, even if the vocabulary and sentence structure is often simplistic. It reminds me of my favorite Palahniuks and Pat Barkers: a book that never talks down to its readers, trusting them to understand the complexity of thought found in its straight forward (and occasionally blunt) packaging.

And the messages this book sends are very complex and well thought out: is it possible to cover true crime in a moral way? What type of people bully and what type people are bullied? What's the cost of not 'fitting in' as a child? How does the internet warp young minds? What kind of person is a 'good' victim? Are 'good' victims real, or an invention of narrative convenience? Can children's play and imagination build up to murder? What kind of child is capable of murder, and is that capability innate, or does it grow over time? When does bullying become criminal? What amount of bullying is acceptable or 'normal'? And, perhaps most importantly, the question the book tackles in its final section with one of the most richly layered and consequential plot twists I've ever seen:

Is there really any difference between true crime journalism and true crime fanfiction? Is everyone engaging in true crime discussion just writing a different kind of fanfiction?

Even if they're not doing it in prose, everyone is forming a narrative in their heads. No one in these forums and blogs and chatrooms and social media accounts was an actual witness to the events they're compelled to discuss. Is all of that just a different kind of fanfiction? And if it is, who has the moral high ground? Who is engaging in these topics in a respectful way?

Is anyone?

Is the only way to answer these questions in a way that's respectful to the victim, this book seems to say, is to just write fiction. So Eliza Clark did, and I think it's one of the most engaging, creative, layered and thoughtful books I've ever read.

...At least, I think so. I don't know much about true crime, but Eliza Clark clearly does.

Content Warnings

evawondergem's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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