Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Penance by Eliza Clark

38 reviews

kathleenwho's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Body horror, Child death, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

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

readingoverbreathing's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Torture, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Racism

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

alexander26's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

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

victorcrictor's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A great read. At first I thought this was non fiction like a fucking idiot, i guess that is a testament of the quality of Clarks writing.

A very meta book in the sesnse that it is about itself and its fictional author rather than what it actually is about.

A very good take on bad books, bad journalism and ethics

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

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

a_dja'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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Alcohol

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