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A review by pixylprincess
Penance by Eliza Clark
4.25
I really enjoyed this book. I always think about the ethical and moral dilemmas involving my own personal interest in true crime, and I love how this book approaches this topic.
As someone who consumes true crime media regularly, Clark really captured the true crime world perfectly. Annoying podcasters, dramatizing the facts to make them “more entertaining”, profiting from families who have suffered from the crime, and theorizing and connecting your own dots about other people’s lives whom you know nothing about. People who think “I could’ve saved them” and fantasize about serial killers. It’s all in this book.
The writing was gripping and the girls felt relatable, especially if you also lived through and experienced the tumblr era. I enjoyed the background of all of the relationships and seeing how exactly it got to such an escalated point.
As someone who consumes true crime media regularly, Clark really captured the true crime world perfectly. Annoying podcasters, dramatizing the facts to make them “more entertaining”, profiting from families who have suffered from the crime, and theorizing and connecting your own dots about other people’s lives whom you know nothing about. People who think “I could’ve saved them” and fantasize about serial killers. It’s all in this book.
The writing was gripping and the girls felt relatable, especially if you also lived through and experienced the tumblr era. I enjoyed the background of all of the relationships and seeing how exactly it got to such an escalated point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Toxic friendship