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A review by emilyb99
Penance by Eliza Clark
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder