Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

213 reviews

janainthebooks's review against another edition

challenging dark funny fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Eating disorder and Alcohol

documentno_is's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I went into Boy Parts largely blind and was better for it, the shock factor and depravity of the slow unveiling of the nature of our protagonist was more impactful than had I known what to expect. I hated every moment of being in this character's head and yet grapple with

the ways in which she can be both predator and victim.  Our main character is a master of manipulation and drowning in her own narcissism yet we see the multitude of ways she is failed by those around her, fueling her perversions.

In many ways reading this novel felt unbearable, both in the situations conjured up and the thought processes we are made privy to. This book felt cutting and revolting in the same ways

Lolita does

. My only complaint was the plot post London visit, for as shocking and fast paced as it was for the first 4/5ths of the story it puttered out

rather ungracefully to an unsatisfying ending of repetitions as is common of unveiling your central underlying "secret" too early on. We are left in liminal space of not knowing how much of our character's recollection is psychosis and how much is sociopathy, undoing much of the suspense of earlier on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

pantslint's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I wouldn't call this an enjoyable read, but it certainly is an engaging one. It's really accessible, with contemporary speech and pop culture references. And it's like watching a catastrophic train wreck happening in slow motion, on a foggy day,

until suddenly you get clocked in the head with a giant camera.

Irina is hilarious and a great unreliable narrator—she had me feeling like I was descending into a k-hole with her, questioning her version of reality alongside everyone else around her.
I love how women are written here, how they (and ultimately, we) are both victims and perpetrators of misogyny and the male gaze.

Mom to Irina. Irina to Flo, Sera, and literally everyone else.

I wonder what the fuck I have to do for people to recognise me as a threat, you know? It's like... am I even doing this shit? Have I even fucking done anything?

Irina's pretty privilege doesn't make her immune to gender based violence (the opposite, actually), but her literal crazy psychotic bitch behavior is just chalked up to 💅 hot girl shit. Men literally don't see her as dangerous in the same way that women find men dangerous.

Lots to ponder from this book—makes me want to explore other books with similar themes that other reviewers mentioned, like My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh and Tampa by Alissa Nutting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, and Pedophilia

Minor: Animal death

isaarusilor's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

stories_of_the_soul27's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I am very happy that this genre exists. This genre could have its own literature course very easily. 

Irina is unlikable and unreliable. She is cruel, unhinged and broken (?). She is powerful in the sense that she knows the screws she needs to tweak to get her ways. She picks up this average looking men and makes them feel desirable by clicking racy pictures of them. The whole power dynamics is so hypnotic. She is so controlling and manipulative of her subjects. They bow to her because she plays her part well. She knows how to dress, how to talk and exactly how to reply to keep everyone on the hook. She fishes the insecure ones and completely exploits and uses them. There’s certain kind of cruelness to her. She sneers when she hears her male contemporary getting awards and recognitions by photographing already sexy women models while Irina is building things literally from scratch with average looking men. 

The jump between present and past was so smooth and the timing was rightly done. Her crazy actions completely threw me off sometimes. Irina does a lot of unjustified things. And she will continue to do so unless she has a massive breakdown or she is stopped. She was abused in her teenage years and the way her mother treats her to this day is another reason why Irina cannot be nice to anyone. Irina is mean and vile through to her core. She does not even spare strangers without acting against them even it is in small ways. She is obsessed with being skinny in the most unhealthy ways. She cannot let go of her girl best friend whom she just wrings and uses like a dishcloth. 

Irina’s job is one which has also put her in harm’s way. Calling unknown men to her home to be photographed in a fetishised way her cost her security. Still she plowed on. Stupid or brave? A disparity definitely because if roles were reversed it is again women only who are in danger. Irina is also a regular drunk and addict. This has also lead to her safety issues. She knows this and yet she goes on with this lifestyle. She is self destructive. Either she believes that the worst has already happened to her or she believes that she won’t let the men (or patriarchal society) stop her from living her life the way she wants. 

The books after second half goes on to becoming more dark and visceral. More of Irina’s unhinged actions are thrown a light upon. She asks a question at one point about how far she can take it before someone tells her to fuck off without trying to justify her actions. I think she is frustrated for not being taken seriously because she is a woman from a working class with a middle class upbringing. The world she is trying to venture into and life she wants to build for herself is one full of posh, upper class people. It is very far out of her reach. 

I do believe our surroundings while growing up make us who we are. Part of Irina is because of that. But I also believe that we are our choices. So yes some part of Irina is crazy like a psycho. She simply likes violent shit and is always willing to take it a bit too far. Her choice of movies and what she does to her models is evidence of that. But yes she is a victim too. 

I will reread this book again after a few years later and try to critically judge the themes then after reading a bit more of books in this genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

dark 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

I found this compulsively readable and incredibly dark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

editorgrrl's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Irina (or did her mam name her “Irene”?) is a painfully thin female bisexual Patrick Bateman (complete with business cards and cleaning products) from Northern England.

An unreliable narrator, she drops names, watches ultra violent films, and wishes she were a stone cold bitch rather than a plumber’s daughter who’s only working part time at a seedy bar so that her mam will continue to pay half her rent.

If you hate unlikable characters, this is not the book for you. I found it darkly humorous, and a little sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Self harm

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, and Vomit

robbie_d94's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

3.75

I'm quite a tough reviewer with 3.75 being categorised as "Excellent" in my review matrix. I found this book extremely funny while being equally disturbing as the main character becomes increasly disassociated through the book. Would recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

writeasiread's review against another edition

challenging dark

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

alex_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail