Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Penance by Eliza Clark

161 reviews

emilyb99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

'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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

coffeecass's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

andrew_matteson's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

dna_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

polly_ellen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It took me a while to get into but I really loved this book. The story was fascinating and gripping - even though you know what it is right from the outset. The character development and insight into provided into them and their motives and what led to their crime was absolutely fascinating. I also loved the way the central plot was linked to contemporary events very relevant for my generation. The wider commentary on Brexit, celebrity culture, class, family, online behaviours and the cult of tumblr was so gripping. I really think Eliza Clark is a voice of a generation. 

And then finally, the commentary on the ethics of the book and the true crime genre at the end just added to the intrigue and made the book even more unique. Would really recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide

plstr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Racism

ashleighcattell's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

samanthaleereads's review against another edition

dark reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Suicide, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism

elizlizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

3.5

Audiobook version is so bad, which is sad because given the text format, it had so much potential. It’s only the main guy voice though, he reads everything in a deadpan way that quickly gets annoying (was this the point?). Footnotes are also read as part of the text, which overall lessened my immersion, as I’m hearing what “kin” means out of the voice of someone who reads LMAO as “le maw”.
That aside, the book is an interesting take on the true crime industry. It shows (exposes?) the many faced masks that “true crime content creators” adopt and is ruthless with every single one of them. The narrative forces you to reconsider as you read on the actual “true” crime so just when you think that you’ve found moral ground, it gets questioned again and again. Goes to show that there’s never a good ”moral” standing point in the matter or, in the words of fictional-disgraced-author Alec Carelli “the snake has eaten its own tail”.
Way to write a flop journalist btw, that guy sucks.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Police brutality

lauraaaclaire's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Racism