Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Penance by Eliza Clark

8 reviews

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

livres_de_bloss's review against another edition

This book could be (generously) described as a comprehensive autopsy of a fake crime. But,mon dieu, it’s so poorly written and executed that it made me angry. After reading some of the critical reviews, I feel confident that this continues and finishes unsatisfactorily so I’m calling ToD and DNF. I read to page 93 and skipped to page 399 to read the ending and UGH. I don’t want to waste any more energy on it, so take my reading notes and let’s call it done:

I hate true crime (and any fandom culture, really) so the layout, writing, and story didn’t do much for me because it’s trying to emulate true crime. Critical reviews point out this book is (not even subtly) based on a real murder, which is just gross. Any “commentary” the author was trying to make about the harmful and exploitative nature of true crime is totally undermined by her own exploitation of real victims and their families. Adding insult to injury, the author doesn’t acknowledge this “inspiration”.

The dialogue (podcast transcripts especially) was embarrassingly poor and made me wince a few times. The teenspeak was awful and not remotely relevant to the time period.

Writing didn’t work for me - very dry and flat. The ‘structure’ is basically an info dump. Abysmal pacing. Excessive filler. Spelling and grammar mistake abound. Desperately needed tighter editing. The characters were cardboard. Don’t even try and tell me this was intentional to illustrate how incompetent the journalist was… find me a single person that would choose to read a badly written, 400+ page book because iT’s ChArAcTeRiZaTiOn! It’s the authors job to make the read compelling and the editors job to make it coherent. This book is neither.

Book wasn’t sure what it wanted to be so doesn’t fully realize any of its potential on any themes. The claims of commentary on austerity/seaside towns in decline and ramifications of Brexit are patently false. A throwaway line or two isn’t critical commentary. Instead, author prioritized gratuitous violence and completely unneeded rambling tangents.

Why was it titled “Penance”? This isn’t a theme or thing in the book at all.

I came to dread picking this up and regret the time I spent with it. Waterstones recommendations always let me down. I guess it’s fair to not trust a bookshop: their priority is making money, not giving objective recs. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Hard do not recommend. If you have to read it, get it from the library. Don’t spend your money on this. Lastly, a gentle reminder that DNFing a bad book is self-care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

augie_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

I went into this book not knowing a thing about the author or the story. I firmly believed right to the end that this was based on a true story and from the perspective of a real journalist. It was only afterwards when I - ironically - tried to search the town that was mentioned throughout that I realised the whole thing was fiction! Excellent writing and, as many have mentioned in their reviews here, touches on a very specific cultural experience of the internet and the way it affected young people. Excellent writing but do take care reading as there is a lot of graphic content.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Xenophobia

whoisrois's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

books written for me specifically 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Fatphobia, Racism, Rape, Islamophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Classism

chronicacademia's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

An incredible, uncomfortable, horrifying dissection of the true crime genre and its “fandoms.” A must read for anyone who consumes true crime. 

Adding a content warning for necrophilia as well as the content warnings listed below. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

taliakdean's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Racism, Dementia, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Outing

bookishnatalia's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Torture, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide and Medical content

Minor: Mass/school shootings