Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Penance by Eliza Clark

131 reviews

el_izabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked this book, and I think the author did a great job exploring the nuances of the girls’ relationships and emotional lives, but I think I would be interested in a bit more investigation into the problematic practices of the journalist “writing” the book, it felt weird to mostly only be one chapter at the end, somehow

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Violence

readingoverbreathing's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Torture, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Racism

rayanaj's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

** spoiler alert ** this book was shaping up to be a five star until i got to the final act- girl c. i understand that the entire point of the book is for it to about how disgusting the true crime industry really is, but i am not a true crime girlie and just found girl c's story hard to read. it made me sick. ill sleep with the light on tonight because it was that unsettling.

the ending was phenomenal though. it wasnt a huge surprise as i had already suspected it as i had been alluded to what themes this novel was exploring, but still impeccably executed regardless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emilienne's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Blood, and Alcohol

liltag's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

A really gripping book

but I found the ending a little anticlimactic - so much was put on Alec being unreliable but then it was barely explored

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

amy_park's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Eliza Clark has once again written a banger! Confirming she is one of my favourite authors! This was sensational! The premise was fascinating; a "cancelled" journalist writes a book about a murder of a teenage girl by three girls from her school, set in a British seaside town! SOLD!
The writing is perfection, I was so enthralled that when reading passages I believed it was non-fiction, but then got jolted by the awkward and cringe comments of the journalist, reverting me back to the mindset that this is a novel.
The horrific behaviour of teenage girls and high school friendship groups, including the easy way girls can flit to bullying, was so realistic and well written, it really took me back to my own school memories.
Although awfully bleek, graphic and grotesque from the start it was sprinkled with dark humour and British-isms, which did lighten the heaviness of the topics at times.
Fantastic! I will read everything Eliza writes (when reading she announced she will be releasing a short story collection later in 2024, eekk)!
Also, shout out to the multiple Derek Accorah and Most Haunted references, personally making my heart smile 🤌

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Torture, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Kidnapping

doridotcom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Classism

alexander26's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

bookishpip's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Murder

victorcrictor's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A great read. At first I thought this was non fiction like a fucking idiot, i guess that is a testament of the quality of Clarks writing.

A very meta book in the sesnse that it is about itself and its fictional author rather than what it actually is about.

A very good take on bad books, bad journalism and ethics

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence