Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

452 reviews

tayo2000's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

5.0

I loved this. 

Boy Parts is a thoroughly engrossing (and gruesome? Brutal? Unhinged??) exploration of gender and sexuality. The power of men over women looked at through the lens of a female protagonist (antagonist?) flipping the narrative on its head. I think I will certainly need some more time to fully digest this and sort my thoughts. Rest assured though this is a five star read. 

Irina is also a sociopath, but that’s a conversation for another time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Self harm, Sexual content, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse

eirasenior's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Rape, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Body horror, Drug use, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

houseofjules's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

I liked this book, it made me realize that I find stories about fucked up women fascinating. 

It also made me realize that this is what My Year of Rest and Relaxation wants to be and falls drastically short. I have also seen this compared to American Psycho but for girls. And you know what, I liked that story as well (I've only watched it, not read it). 

I think this says something bad about me, just not sure what. But I think this is a successful story because of the commentary rather than the behavior displayed by the MC. I mean, girlfriend needs therapy BAD. But her support system failed her from the beginning, starting with her relationship with her mother and the things she goes on to experience in her early years.

 This is pretty privilege at play as well, which allows her to get away with lots of things. In fact its the main question she tried to find an answer to. This book feel like running your tongue over a recently extracted tooth. Painful, horrifying even, but hard to stop exploring. 

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Content Warnings

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

galexywitch's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

The protagonist of this book is a horrible person. She’s a monster. Most of the side characters are quite unlikable people as well. Do not read this book if you are expecting a redemption arc - the protagonist does not grow into a better person, but continues to be an unapologetic, horrible person to pretty much everyone in her life. 

That being said, I loved this book. Irina (the protagonist) is the bad guy of this story, but being in her head is fascinating even if it is horrifying as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Vomit and Eating disorder

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

4.0

What the heck did I just read??
I had no idea where this book was going till the very end. I'm not even sure what really happened.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

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

Moderate: Eating disorder and Alcohol

thebookgaydar's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Drug use, Alcohol, and Sexual violence

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

mcrespo's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Rape, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Pedophilia, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal cruelty

diana311's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Addiction, Gore, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death