Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Penance by Eliza Clark

65 reviews

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

katerina_l's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Gore, Grief, Bullying, Murder, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Blood, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Homophobia, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

drrock's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Torture, Child death, Alcoholism, Deportation, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Rape, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, Drug use, and Death

froon's review against another edition

4.5

very addicting read! i think clark captured the idiosyncrasies of tumblr quite well⏤almost too well that perhaps the barrier of entry for this book would be to have had an overactive tumblr account in the early 2010s.

the commentary was very pointed, and i found the characters fleshed out and complex. i really loved the multimedia sections (especially the tumblr posts). 

my criticisms are mostly with the last section of the book.

i could tell there was something off with the narrator (exemplified in the “italian’s are oppressed too” comment which made the tweet making fun of it so much funnier), so the reveal that he was scummy was gratifying if not predictable. however, i think the narrator limited the story in someways. particularly with the resolution (or culmination?) of the mentions of his daughters death. i.e when he said that he used to stand over his daughter’s bed for hours at night. do we take that as an admission of guilt? or what? a jab at something like that towards the end, when we’re finally outside his point of view, would’ve satisfied my curiosity. i was also a little disappointed with the latter half of the “Girl C” section, but given the constraints of the story, i’m not sure how that could have been fixed.

overall, a really great book. it’s plot probably could’ve been avoided if dolly and violet were really into like one direction or kpop rpf.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

kate_303's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Bullying, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Mass/school shootings, Child death, and Child abuse

kitfkat's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Suicide, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Torture, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Racism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, and Addiction

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, Dementia, Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Abortion, and Xenophobia

gemin1reader's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Not my usual kind of read and certainly not an easy one - because of the subject matter but also because of the sheer length and depth of it. So many characters and angles to keep track of. 

A real biting look at the true crime industry though, it definitely made its point and packs a punch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Violence, Drug use, Gun violence, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, Racism, Self harm, and Fatphobia

Minor: Vomit and Eating disorder

vstone306's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Self harm, Murder, and Death

sarahrosebooknook's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

This book was interestingly done as it modeled a true crime documentary. The amount of things that I learned about teens and the depths of the internet make me really afraid for my kids in the future. I probably would have rates it a 4.5 but the last 50 pages or so are packed with so many trigger warnings. It left me with a knot in my stomach. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Pedophilia, Drug use, Rape, Animal death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Violence

aloe_v's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The blurring between fiction and non-fiction was quite trippy when reading the book,

and given the ending guardian interview, within the fiction, which accuses the in-book author of blurring fiction and non-fiction, I realise now the interesting parallels there between the fictional readers and real readers.

It was also interesting that, as I read, I thought it was actually a male author because of the in-book author, and only reading the acknowledgements did i realise it was not. This was another interesting thing that "caught me", as I'd felt a bit uncertain about a male writing about teenage female relationships, and that it was a bit infantilising/dismissive at times, and I realise now, that was likely intentional on the real authors part - or at least, thats my intepretation.

Reading time 5h54m.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Torture, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Self harm, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Child abuse