Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Boy Parts

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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mcrespo's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective tense fast-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

so irina female raged too close to the sun, and ended up being a

rapist/murderer

, and unfortunately, no matter how funny she is and how much i relate to her proclivity for pretty men she can boss around, i cannot “support women's rights and wrongs" into liking irina, but she is such a well written character. clark knows how to write a complex female character, and i'm a sucker for an unreliable narrator. clark is funny and witty throughout this novel, however, this book won't be fun unless you are very mindful of the trigger warnings, so keep it cute and check those before you read. this novel also can be definitely insufferable if you can’t get past irina's white woman bullshit loaded with manipulation and forced tears. she's not a likable character, but she sure does go through a lot of the worst parts of the girl experience, and clark does an incredible job touching on important topics such as relationships of abuse, power dynamics differences amongst the sexes, and how social structures shape every aspect of human life down to sexual desire.

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bethniamh's review against another edition

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

3.0

This was uneven but showed a lot of the promise that was realised more fully in Penance, which I read first. The last 100ish pages were very reminiscent of American Psycho, although lacking a lot of its humour (much like Irina). Definitely one to check trigger warnings for before reading; I have a fairly strong stomach but parts of this book definitely made me feel a bit off.

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