Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Penance by Eliza Clark

180 reviews

plstr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Racism

rebeckareads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Toxic friendship

ashleighcattell's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

elizlizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

3.5

Audiobook version is so bad, which is sad because given the text format, it had so much potential. It’s only the main guy voice though, he reads everything in a deadpan way that quickly gets annoying (was this the point?). Footnotes are also read as part of the text, which overall lessened my immersion, as I’m hearing what “kin” means out of the voice of someone who reads LMAO as “le maw”.
That aside, the book is an interesting take on the true crime industry. It shows (exposes?) the many faced masks that “true crime content creators” adopt and is ruthless with every single one of them. The narrative forces you to reconsider as you read on the actual “true” crime so just when you think that you’ve found moral ground, it gets questioned again and again. Goes to show that there’s never a good ”moral” standing point in the matter or, in the words of fictional-disgraced-author Alec Carelli “the snake has eaten its own tail”.
Way to write a flop journalist btw, that guy sucks.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Police brutality

em_gauts's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

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

rosecahill's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

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

mollyelli's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mass/school shootings and Murder

Minor: Rape

beancamille's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship