Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

193 reviews

allison__'s review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Fatphobia, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Drug use, Rape, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

char_a_lot_te's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

What the actual fuck.

Scalding commentary on the role of art in our society and the current state of the patriarchy. Absolutely repulsive, don't read it unless you're mentally stable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Murder, Rape, Torture, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Body horror, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Infidelity

nere's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

4.75

monday the 19th of february 2024

i’m going to start off by saying. if you get it you get it if you don’t you don’t if you know you know. either you get the vibe or you don’t get the vibe

i started reading right before bed and mentally i was like. let me just read the first page. and then i looked up and i was a quarter of my way through the book.

the writing style is incredibly engrossing. its very quip and readable but not without personality. it’s so easy to read. there’s almost something incredibly mundane about all of it. but you still want to keep reading to know what happens next. its so addictive thats all i can say. eliza clark is some sort of wizard.

the book follows irina, a professional photographer who is known for taking risque photos of men. there’s not really a need to know much else besides the fact you are reading a horror novel. be wary of trigger warnings if applicable

i’m not entirely settled on a rating I think 
I’ll need to sit on it a bit more but its definitely one I haven’t been able to stop thinking about which is always a sign of a winner.

“Do you like it rough? I think so. I think I must. Men are rough, aren’t they? Have I always had a taste for rough stuff, or did I acquire that? In the back of Lesley’s car, on the floor of a friend’s house, half-conscious with my underwear around my ankles? Was it my idea to have him hurt me, or did he just let me think it was? And that gets sewn into them young, doesn’t it? Violence.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Rape, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Body shaming

Moderate: Torture and Classism

Minor: Biphobia and Cancer

unreality, dissociation, auditory/visual hallucinations

sydneythekydneybean's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Listen... when you pen this as "american psycho for hot girls," I expect "american psycho for hot girls." And it did fulfill that for about the first half. Irinia is so unreliable, messy, manipulative, and overall fucked-up; and hey, I love reading about messy bitches sometimes, but as soon as she stops hyper-focusing on her man-hating/loving photography and starts calling everyone ever a size 2 fat and dumpy, and is constantly thinking about carbs and her weight and blah blah blah, you do start to lose me.

The synopsis of Boy Parts says that Irina goes into a tailspin after she is asked to be a part of an exhibition and that tailspin centers around Irina’s relationship with her obsessive best friend, Flo, and Eddie from Tesco who has attracted her attention. Now, after reading that, I was expecting a lot of interaction between Irina and Flo, and Irina and Eddie. I expected to witness Irina's and Flo's toxic, unhealthy relationship bumped up to 1000. I expected Irinia to become bloodthirsty for the seemingly innocent, insecure, "perfect for the picking" Eddie. I expected violence, sex, manipulation, and like Black Swan levels of obsession. Irina's unpredictable, we don't know how much of her memory we can trust, and I wanted the book to almost gaslight me, as the reader, into believing shit that didn't happen because that's how Irina remembers it. And unfortunately, Boy Parts just didn't live up to my expectations.

I love this book's genre more than I love this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Drug use, Sexual content, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Fatphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Rape, Alcohol, Self harm, and Sexual assault

kotletka_polina's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

3.75

I didn’t hate it but o certainly didn’t like it. There isn’t enough plot and I dislike it when the whole book is about “oh look she’s so edgy and horrible and does disgusting things she should be in jail for” and nothing else.
The main character is insufferable but that’s the whole point. I just wish it was done better, more epic/intense because I wasn’t encouraged to read further. 
Overall it was okay but boring to read and in the ending there’s zero conclusion or sort of outcome so you have to like philosophising about content afterwards to make the book make sense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Self harm, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Rape, Body horror, Death, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

amelkamx's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

evelyncore's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Made me think about glass in the eye more times than I am comfortable with - amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Rape, Self harm, Vomit, Classism, Gore, Violence, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Body horror, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

jesselopod's review

challenging dark tense slow-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

4.0

Superb audiobook reading. I thought it was awful but then I realised that it was just the main character that was awful. This book is what I wanted my year of rest and relaxation to be. It read like Effie from Skins got into photography and got infinitely more mean. At first I thought this book was gratuitously excessively unhinged, but as I kept reading I found the concepts the book was exploring really compelling.

Although I was frustrated that it took as long as it did to drop the hook into the story surrounding “my boy”, I really loved the way the author handled the slide into unreliability as Irena’s reality dissolved around her, and I really enjoyed the emotional roller coaster the author put you through as a reader, how she played around with empathy the reader feels for her alongside her unforgivable cruelty. 

The ending was very abrupt. I like that there is no resolution to knowing what is and isn’t real, but I also felt the story didn’t really reach a conclusion either. With a tweaked ending I think I would have rated it much higher.

I viscerally hated reading much of this, it felt like watching a car crash, but I also didn’t want to stop listening to it. I don’t like horror as a genre, but I’m glad I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Murder, Rape, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault

pingi444's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Sexism, Murder, Rape, Drug use, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Torture, Sexual content, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

kecasey'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Murder, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Mental illness