Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Penance by Eliza Clark

111 reviews

rilakkumas's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Murder, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Bullying, Cursing, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Incest, Violence, Toxic friendship, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Death, Biphobia, and Blood

jen_prouvaire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Child death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Ableism, Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

nastu's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Drug use, Alcoholism, and Blood

Minor: Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Biphobia, and Racism

pilarlopezleiva's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Bullying, Mass/school shootings, Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Torture, Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Mental illness, and Suicide

abi_laura's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings

bold's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Torture, Bullying, Toxic relationship, and Drug use

Moderate: Homophobia, Child death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

ermw0's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

The rare book where I am hooked by the premise, and then completely sold after the first page. I didn't want to look away while also feeling revulsion for the characters and their awful awful ways. God, how I do not miss being a teenage girl. I thought this was an effective commentary on the true crime fandom, as well as those Tumblr girlies who obsess over real serial killers. This book is graphic, infuriating, scary, repulsive, and addicting. Both a rebuke of the true crime genre and sort of a perfect example how you can create this type of gripping story without exploiting real people and their tragedies. As someone who fell off of true crime simply because of how slimy it made me feel consuming the grief of real people, this was the book that gave me everything I wanted and spoke to some of my own feelings. 

Eliza Clark is now an author who I will read anything she writes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Body horror, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, Addiction, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual assault and Rape

ginagray's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Child death, Blood, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Murder, Gore, Torture, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, and Bullying

milliebrierley's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder