A review by signeskov
Penance by Eliza Clark

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This is a novel who plays with genre successfully and asks the right questions to its audience, content, and the right of the genre to even exist.

What is it that fascinates us about true crime? Why has this grown as a trend in recent years? Are the books any better than the podcasts? What role does fiction play in the account of the non-fictional? And, most interestingly to me, what does fan culture and online fellowship mean to the consumption of true crime?

As one final interviewer of the fictional author of the novel, Penance, prompted:

“You essentially made the story of her daughter’s murder into an entertaining piece of fiction. It’s like you saw a number of primary sources and had contact with people who knew the girls, and you proceeded to more or less write fanfiction about the case. How do you square that with [your] idea of [writing] emotional truth?”

I don’t have any answers to any of the questions I asked above, but I do know that this novel moved me to think critically about the true crime genre in a way I hadn’t before. I don’t consume much true crime content, but either way the premise of this novel drew me in. The fascination of three girls being able to do something so terrible warrants a human need to understand why such a thing might have happened. I even found myself googling whether this case was actually real or fictional - Eliza Clark’s case in point with writing this novel, really.

This was a really interesting read for me as someone who was around the same age as these fictional girls when the events took place. I was also on Tumblr and part of some of their more innocent fandoms like Glee. I know only too well what a ridiculous place Tumblr was in building community though intense aesthetic, fanfiction and shipping cultures. 

While I didn’t see much toxicity in the Tumblr strands I was in at the time, I’m sure that looking back now that it was. It makes you think: if I had had less of a secure childhood and teenage years, could I have become part of these dark sides of the community and have its content fuel my emotions with even more angst and anger? Most likely, yes. I imagine many young girls could have been prone to that.

The final point about a new fandom being built around Jodie’s murder really drove the nail into the coffin of Eliza Clark’s point on genre.

In the end, this book left me thinking and will sit with me for some time. That’s always a good thing when that happens. I recommend the audio book version of this as well - the characterization of the main character’s voices are something that engages you but also encourages you to stay a critical listener as well as reader.
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