Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Penance by Eliza Clark

8 reviews

semjl's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ribbenkast's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Eliza Clark's writing is unlike anything other writing I've ever read. The way she got into a fictional sleezy crime writer's head and made this sensationalized "non fiction" book from his perspective.  It's a level of writing skill not many people posses.

Something that particularly stood out to me that deserves separate praise is just how well she captured 2014 tumblr culture around true crime. It was weird and you just had to be there to see it to believe it. 

I'm looking forward to Clark's next novel coming out this year! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Death of parent

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Confinement, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Vomit, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jen_prouvaire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sarahrosebooknook's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This book was interestingly done as it modeled a true crime documentary. The amount of things that I learned about teens and the depths of the internet make me really afraid for my kids in the future. I probably would have rates it a 4.5 but the last 50 pages or so are packed with so many trigger warnings. It left me with a knot in my stomach. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sarah984's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was fine, it captured the voices of the teens and (most of) the internet culture of the era really well, but I do think it fell into its own trap a bit in over focusing on the perpetrators without a lot of self awareness, and a few things about the internet culture of the time are inaccurate in a way that annoyed me (especially the assertion about ao3 because I think the truth actually adds to the book's point). The twist is so obvious from pretty much the beginning that the epilogue feels like a joke.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

coffeekitaab's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

iheartm4m's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

5.0

As a tumblr trawler of 2013-2016, this book hit home so hard. I knew girls like this, and now i dont have to imagine what would have happened to them if they took it too far. Great use of media from this decade, im obsessed with clarks use of the darkest parts of the internet that are teenage girls blog posts. Fantastic and fascinating and chilling. Could not put it down. As a person the same age as the characters, f*** me is this accurate!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic