Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Penance by Eliza Clark

45 reviews

geraldine's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

picked this up because i read boy parts and liked the writing style well enough that i figured i would give her next book a go. and i liked her writing style here as well! i also liked this one better, for the record, even though it's a lot more complex. i do feel like i wanted to keep a little notebook with everyone's name and a basic summary because a few times i felt like i had forgotten who someone was, but this might just be a me problem. and by the end this was not an issue.

all other takes are spoilers from here-on out.

i hadn't remembered the synopsis when i checked out the library ebook, but the very beginning was promising to me, like the setup of the second release of a (fictional) true crime non-fiction book, i do like a commentary on true crime. and then imagine my surprise when i realized that it was not only this but specifically a commentary on serial killer fandom and RPF???????????????

i actually have a note in the kindle app on my phone (i read this on both physical kindle and phone app, for the record) from around the 57% mark when i realized she was drawing a direct parallel between what dolly was doing with her serial killer fanfiction and what alec was doing with his book. and for the record, i did think it worked.

my main complaint about this is the very end, that maybe she felt like she was being too subtle here? (she was not.) and then has that final interviewer sit down with alec and y'know... literally say out loud the thesis of the book. i feel like this was genuinely unnecessary! i don't think we needed that interview at all! i felt like the afterward up until that point, info from the editor explaining who was suing and why and who had complained etc, this was enough to get the point across. trust your readers to pick up on this even if you don't explicitly spell it out!

this also made me question one of the other things i thought i was picking up, like if she directly explained one of the things she was hinting at, does that mean that i was just reading into the other element i thought she was suggesting? or did she choose to leave that subtle and it was intended? because to me it also felt like alec was not only being voyeuristic and obsessing over the culprits here, but also that he is doing this to teenage girls, and there may be more to it than just this. he is a fifty year old man, obsessing about teenage girls. 

he includes what heather says about dolly's father and the accusations that dolly refuted on the stand, and in his fanfiction moments he has other characters allude to the accusations being true, but then when heather explains what she saw, he defends dolly's father and directly compares himself to the father. with an example where he spends hours standing watching his daughter sleep. really wondered about this one for a while. perhaps i really am reading too much into it, but still.

that's all really. i thought she did a good job integrating like... i guess online and "fandom" concepts in a way that made sense for the story she was trying to tell. and not assuming that a random reader in a barnes & noble would automatically know what the term RPF meant.

anyway, vriska homestuck gets namedropped in this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

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

rayanaj's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

** spoiler alert ** this book was shaping up to be a five star until i got to the final act- girl c. i understand that the entire point of the book is for it to about how disgusting the true crime industry really is, but i am not a true crime girlie and just found girl c's story hard to read. it made me sick. ill sleep with the light on tonight because it was that unsettling.

the ending was phenomenal though. it wasnt a huge surprise as i had already suspected it as i had been alluded to what themes this novel was exploring, but still impeccably executed regardless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

beancamille's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

sstento's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

noveltay's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

This felt like a documentary and a thriller movie combined. Very entertaining and a quick page turner. I googled multiple times reading to see if this was a true story, or based on a real town etc. Every character was unlikeable, minus maybe some parents.

I can’t wait for another book by this author. Her two out right now, are both 5 star reads for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bellsdixon's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Classism

zoeygrey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Torture, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, and Outing

carojust's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Eliza Clark is masterful at storytelling and character/world-building. She has laid out the entire plot in the first few pages, yet you're left intrigued and increasingly absorbed as the book moves on. 

"Penance" focuses on the perspectives of four teen girls, schoolmates at a small coastal town in England. They are, at varying degrees, involved in the gruesome demise of Joni, a fellow student in their class. 

The layer on top of this plot is that we are reading the POV of a fictional author who has interviewed the characters and researched Joni's case. He's an unreliable narrator to say the least. It's Inception-y, and lets us sit at a distance from the horror, like a sobering buffer. 

With this in mind, Clark plays with our sense of what is real and what is not. I found myself Googling events that were completely fictional, though there are references to real platforms, psychopaths, books and a school shooting. This disorients you as a reader, and mimics the delusion and untruthiness taking place with the characters, and true crime in general.

What definitely feels real are the Tumblr posts, and the fangirls who idolize and fictionalize mass murderers. Clark spends a lot of time illustrating this world, and we sit in the discomfort for a while. It's a paradoxically naive and dark place. 

I should add, the author purposefully avoids going into specifics of what these characters physically do to Joni

beyond setting fire

. You can assume you will fill in the details yourself, which is a wild realization.

After assessing the TWs, I recommend this book as a dark, brutal, engaging read with the most well-crafted characters I've ever come across. Keep reminding yourself it's fiction, but not really.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sophie______a's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism