Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Penance

Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Penance by Eliza Clark

81 reviews

poppyinthebin's review against another edition

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3.75

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withlivjones's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

The girls that get it, get it; the girls that don’t, don’t. and I get it. As someone well-versed on Tumblr and its lore, this book does a really good job of recreating the darker communities that live on the site and how easy it is for its younger users (often teenagers who are isolated and lonely IRL) to be drawn in and radicalised by the content they interact with. All of the characters involved in the murder are explored in such depth that they are all somewhat sympathetic but still unsettling, and the tension builds until it seems inevitable that these three girls do something unforgivable.

But that’s only half the story. The book (which is presented as a fictional non-fiction true crime account of the murder) also details the fictional author’s efforts to gather as much information as possible relating to the three murderers, sometimes resorting to unethical means as far as stalking and harassing their relatives for details. As his account progresses, we start to wonder how much of it is accurate and how much he has projected onto the girls himself, turning it into something akin to the school shooter RPF one of the killers wrote. That aspect of the story-within-a-story is just as intriguing.

Dark and unsettling, not just because of the heavy, graphic content but because of how realistic it feels, this book is totally worth the read.

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bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

What a twisty and chilling ride. I struggle with the level of violent detail in both this and BOYS PARTS—it feels gratuitous, are we readers not any different than the people Clark critiques?, etc., etc.—but I suppose my conflicting feelings are the very point. The dynamics of teenage girls can be a world unto themselves.

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nere's review against another edition

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dark

3.25

16 august 2024
this is obviously meant to be in reaction to the state of true crime today. and as someone who vehemently avoids true crime I’m obviously not the target audience.

I’m probably being a bit harsher with my rating because I loved Boy Parts by eliza clark.

it still stuck with me though. and these characters worm their way into the recesses of my mind as her characters wont to do

“‘No, no, no.’
‘No’ was her first word. Joni became infamous among her extended family for bluntly refusing cuddles and kisses; for her honest appraisal of meals, and dresses, and other people’s children. Did you like your tea at Nana’s? No. Did you like your Uncle Gavin’s present? No. Do you want to meet the new baby? No.
Mand encouraged it. She hated sickly sweet little girls; she hated watching mothers henpeck their daughters into submission.”

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vermilionhues's review against another edition

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dark

3.0

the format of penance was unlike anything i've read before, and managed to point out a lot of the problems with the true-crime industry that it seems a lot of people ignore (fandom activity rallying around school shooters, for example). it was an immersive world, and a lot of the formatting surrounding the online presence of the characters and the cutaways to podcasters were interesting... but I found myself skipping over a lot, especially

the parts where there was an invented school shooter duo seemingly based on the real events at columbine high school... then is revealed during a very detailed description of the fictional school shooting that these shooters had actually been "inspired" by the columbine shooters. this whole section felt very weird to read and its inclusion seemed super unnecessary. seems weird to be both a novel that points out that the culture around true crime is harmful and yet uses a very real, very tragic event to inspire the characters carrying out their own version of it.

I get what she was trying to do, but by the end I couldn't help but feel I was reading some weird meta fanfic-within-a-fanfic about school murders patting itself on the back for being anti-true crime.

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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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