Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Penance by Eliza Clark

53 reviews

iheartm4m's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

As a tumblr trawler of 2013-2016, this book hit home so hard. I knew girls like this, and now i dont have to imagine what would have happened to them if they took it too far. Great use of media from this decade, im obsessed with clarks use of the darkest parts of the internet that are teenage girls blog posts. Fantastic and fascinating and chilling. Could not put it down. As a person the same age as the characters, f*** me is this accurate!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

inesjp_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This is a masterpiece.

It is provocative, and it has an awful narrator, and you can't trust anyone. I hate the characters and the romantisation of a crime, and the way it is written, but isn't that the point of a fake true crime story? Love it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Murder

sleaterkenneth's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Like Devil House but worse. I had similar issues with Boy Parts and I think they both just need a stronger edit, granted this is an ARC but there were parts where the same thing was repeated with only slight alterations in the same paragraph. Overall... I think it lacks empathy? A decent narrator? I understand that the narrator is unreliable but that doesn't excuse the complete lack of emotional investment and teenage slang that doesn't fit the time period/era of tumblr. I did tear through it and was interested in how everything would shake out so that has to count for something, begging everyone to read Devil House yet again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol