Reviews with content warning for Torture - Boy Parts

it had such a great premise, you could have written something truly creative, thrilling and gory but it just reads like a wattpad style of novel that wants to be more.

Content Warnings

hannaelisab's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

forgive me, this book is impossible to rate😭 so always consider this when judging me for my star-rating, cuz hours after finishing it, i still dont know how i feel about this novel (edit: i have changed my rating three times in the last ten minutes goddamn)
while the story‘s horrible, narcissistic, straight-up psychopathic protagonist grossed me out so much, i hate to admit that i had a little smudge of empathy for her in the end & i hated myself for it. so much. cuz thats what she thrived off! (also what does that say about me as a person help). and even worse, i kind of…enjoyed the depravity (which, btw entails pretty much every trigger warning under the sun) that this novel is lmao…am i a walking red flag now or what

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jaelynna's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

My thoughts - this certainly was a ride. I give this book at 2.9 out of 5. I don’t think it was a bad book. It was just not my cup of tea. It was alright.

Parts I liked -

how unhinged it was. I’ve never read a book with such an insane narrator. I liked how by the end I was also trying to figure out what was actually happening and what wasn’t. Irina was so chaotic, but also tried so hard to get peoples attention. It almost didn’t come naturally for her. She was trying too hard and it consumed her to the point where she was just bat shit crazy.
The writing was great. Eliza Clark didnt try to make us sympathize or care for Irina. We all knew she was psychotic, toxic and a narcissist.

I didn’t dislike any parts necessarily, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. It was very artsy - which isn’t a bad thing. But for me it was meh. I didn’t even mind the gore and liked how unhinged it was. I didn’t finish the book feeling like I just read a WOW story. I just read a book about an unreliable and chaotic character and it was a good read. Nothing to really complain about but also nothing too memorable? Besides her literally murdering someone, abusing her subjects, killing a cat, and imagining glass in everyone’s eyes. I have a feeling I’ll forget about this book in the next year. Maybe it’s because I was so focused on starting other books. Maybe.

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mashapopeskovic's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

just look at the content warnings… or don’t…. It’s up to you, really. there are some spoilers in there

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winterdevil's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

...nothing matters, and nothing lasts. Everyone forgets, and everything disappears. ... Would anyone miss you, if you went away? Would anyone look for you? Would anyone listen, or even care, if I hurt you? If I put my hands around your neck and crushed your windpipe and chopped you up, would anyone find you? And if it's a no to any of these, did you even exist in the first place?

This book is not for everyone, but it is definitely for me.

From the first page, we know protagonist Irina is not a good person, but Clark renders her inner dialogue and the responses to people around her so well. We know what they're warning about and responding nervously to, even as we're forced to see it from Irina's perspective. Irina looks down on so many people; she is extremely condescending and resentful, yet the side characters were still sympathetic and well-rounded. We feel for them as we watch Irina take advantage.

I think the comparisons to American Psycho are apt, particularly regarding Irina's personality which feels in conversation with Patrick Bateman. Not a copy, but from an overlooked subject that broadens the discussion to include gender in the performance of power and violence.

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lucy_goose's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

5.0

It's such a wild ride, Irina is insufferable. She is truly the worst, she is horrible to everyone around her but at the same time, I want to read more. I'm obsessed with this book, I love how unreliable Irina is at narrating what is going on. It's a shockingly feminist book that really pushes gender roles and kind of opened my eyes a little bit at times. However Irina is horrible, there are some gruesome scenes, definitely check TWs. If you're squeamish beware. But I am obsessed with this I wish there was more of the book but I'm glad it ended when it did at the same time.

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laziceva_kala's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

3.25

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whittaker's review against another edition

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challenging 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

4.75

Irina is the pinnacle of unlikeable female narrator. But her story is gripping. Part of it is: did any of it happen? And then the second part, completely dependant on the answer to the first part, an answer we will never get: is she a psychopath or is she traumatised? There's parts that argue she is a psychopath, she is not crazy, but rather cold, calculated and this may all be a product of her trauma. And then there's parts that appear to show how unreliable and unreal her account is that implies she is traumatised, and whilst the events didn't happen - she has convinced herself they have. I don't think anyone in this novel was likeable - but it's proof that a book does not have to be likeable or palatable to be outstanding. This book is infinite shades of fucked up, and I think it should be marketed as such. And it drops from 5 stars because I don't think it /is/ what it boasts to be, with the blurbs and quotes on the cover. It does explore gender, especially female psychopathy, but it isn't stressed upon enough how disturbing this book is, and how it isn't a novel that explores misogyny the way Convenience Store Woman and countless other novels do.

This book kept me gripped, truly, and I enjoyed it so much, whilst enjoying it not at all. It is not necessarily a book I would recommend to the masses, but I would recommend it to people who enjoy horror, especially female driven horror. That is what I think this book is, a psychological horror, and I don't know who the victims are: if they're in the book or if they are us.

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