Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Penance by Eliza Clark

62 reviews

nicole__reads's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

5.0

A gruesome, extraordinary novel that delivers a multifaceted critique of the pop culture true crime obsession, with a story that pulls you in and requires reflecting on your own engagement with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Gun violence, Self harm, Child death, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, and Sexual assault

katarinabee's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Pedophilia, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, Mental illness, and Child death

Moderate: Classism, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Self harm, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Bullying, and Rape

e11en's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic friendship, Child death, Gun violence, Bullying, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Drug use, Incest, and Suicide

Minor: Fatphobia, Ableism, and Homophobia

catherinerowland's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

audreybethc's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Incest, Torture, Murder, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Animal cruelty

enkiiii's review against another edition

dark tense

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

5.0

this book is so good. very shrewd and nuanced commentary on the ethics of true crime. and an “emotionally truthful” (as per the story’s fictional writer Alec Z. Carelli) depiction of what it’s like to be a teenager, and how that formative and often traumatic experience gets trivialized by adults until, well, somebody gets murdered. it was a difficult though entertaining read. and there’s a fun bit of metafiction in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Pedophilia

miranda_mic's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Torture, and Murder

mookisbooks's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Torture, Bullying, Child death, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts

opldxblqo's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I am exactly the demographic for this book: late 20s white woman who spent considerable time on Tumblr in the early 2010s; this book would have fallen short if not for lighting up the teenage nostalgia centers of my brain with its references to the edgy internet culture of my morbid youth (No, I wasn't ever in a serial killer fandom, but I ate up true crime and occasionally looked at "pro ana" blogs with a horrified outsider's fascination). Any reader who missed out on the absolute chum bucket that was Tumblr in the early 2010s (lucky you!) will likely be bored by large chunks of this book.
Despite its heavy reliance on niche internet nostalgia, what Clark gets right in Penance is the critical look at the culture of violence entertainment in true crime media. Penance asks readers to look inward at their rubber-necking voyeurism without scolding; asks readers to question the motives of true crime content creators, and understand that this content more often than not retraumatizes victims' families. Though this exact critique has been explored many times through fiction in the last couple of years in novels such as I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (blah), and Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (five starts!), Penance does so much more thoroughly through the use of metanarrative. The sections of prose are well written and each character feels fully fleshed and complex; a delightful surprise after Clark's disappointing first novel, Boy Parts.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Mass/school shootings, Incest, Gun violence, Child death, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Murder, Torture, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Death

phenixbradley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

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

Minor: Self harm and Eating disorder