Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

194 reviews

sweethibe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Therapy isn't enough, Irina needs a psych ward. I think I'm also in love

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Eating disorder, Death, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

plxtoprojector's review against another edition

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

The pop culture references were terrible. Aside from that, this book was insane and beautiful- the way her narration progressively becomes more and more self-centered and cold really shows just how unreliable her point of view is. As I worked through the book it went from "oh she's a little strange" to "she should get some help" to "what the Fuck." Loved the characterization and exploration of gender and sexuality, especially the application of toxic "masculine" traits to a woman, who's then able to use her power to manipulate men. Photography as her medium also really adds to the power discrepancy between her and her models for reasons I don't fully know how to articulate because it's very late while I write this. 
Really disliked the way her eating disorder was approached. If you're not going to delve into something as complex as an ED beyond stereotypical, surface level definitions, don't write it at all. I think a lot of the insufferable writing choices are just that- insufferable, but they also are very appropriate for the protagonist.
I have so many thoughts I don't know how to explain- will definitely read again and annotate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Self harm

Minor: Sexual assault and Eating disorder

sophiapt's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

4.25

A book about a women exploiting and killing men? Sign me up. 
Jokes aside, this was such an interesting book about how women are so easy to abuse in our patriarchal system but therefore are also not seen as a threat to men or even as people who could do any harm. 
There where so many interesting themes covered such as art, beauty standards, (poor) mental health,... And the book manages to be horrible, funny and beautiful all at the same time. 
Maybe look up trigger warnings before reading... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Eating disorder

beerxper's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug use, Fatphobia, Body horror, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Self harm, Gore, Eating disorder, Animal death, Blood, and Gaslighting

allison__'s review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Fatphobia, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Drug use, Rape, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

beccawatson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Animal death, Violence, and Murder

nere's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

4.75

monday the 19th of february 2024

i’m going to start off by saying. if you get it you get it if you don’t you don’t if you know you know. either you get the vibe or you don’t get the vibe

i started reading right before bed and mentally i was like. let me just read the first page. and then i looked up and i was a quarter of my way through the book.

the writing style is incredibly engrossing. its very quip and readable but not without personality. it’s so easy to read. there’s almost something incredibly mundane about all of it. but you still want to keep reading to know what happens next. its so addictive thats all i can say. eliza clark is some sort of wizard.

the book follows irina, a professional photographer who is known for taking risque photos of men. there’s not really a need to know much else besides the fact you are reading a horror novel. be wary of trigger warnings if applicable

i’m not entirely settled on a rating I think 
I’ll need to sit on it a bit more but its definitely one I haven’t been able to stop thinking about which is always a sign of a winner.

“Do you like it rough? I think so. I think I must. Men are rough, aren’t they? Have I always had a taste for rough stuff, or did I acquire that? In the back of Lesley’s car, on the floor of a friend’s house, half-conscious with my underwear around my ankles? Was it my idea to have him hurt me, or did he just let me think it was? And that gets sewn into them young, doesn’t it? Violence.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Rape, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Body shaming

Moderate: Torture and Classism

Minor: Biphobia and Cancer

unreality, dissociation, auditory/visual hallucinations

sydneythekydneybean's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Listen... when you pen this as "american psycho for hot girls," I expect "american psycho for hot girls." And it did fulfill that for about the first half. Irinia is so unreliable, messy, manipulative, and overall fucked-up; and hey, I love reading about messy bitches sometimes, but as soon as she stops hyper-focusing on her man-hating/loving photography and starts calling everyone ever a size 2 fat and dumpy, and is constantly thinking about carbs and her weight and blah blah blah, you do start to lose me.

The synopsis of Boy Parts says that Irina goes into a tailspin after she is asked to be a part of an exhibition and that tailspin centers around Irina’s relationship with her obsessive best friend, Flo, and Eddie from Tesco who has attracted her attention. Now, after reading that, I was expecting a lot of interaction between Irina and Flo, and Irina and Eddie. I expected to witness Irina's and Flo's toxic, unhealthy relationship bumped up to 1000. I expected Irinia to become bloodthirsty for the seemingly innocent, insecure, "perfect for the picking" Eddie. I expected violence, sex, manipulation, and like Black Swan levels of obsession. Irina's unpredictable, we don't know how much of her memory we can trust, and I wanted the book to almost gaslight me, as the reader, into believing shit that didn't happen because that's how Irina remembers it. And unfortunately, Boy Parts just didn't live up to my expectations.

I love this book's genre more than I love this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Drug use, Sexual content, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Fatphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Rape, Alcohol, Self harm, and Sexual assault

gracepickford's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Torture, Suicide, Murder, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Gore, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Drug use, Body horror, Racism, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Blood, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Rape

kotletka_polina's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-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

3.75

I didn’t hate it but o certainly didn’t like it. There isn’t enough plot and I dislike it when the whole book is about “oh look she’s so edgy and horrible and does disgusting things she should be in jail for” and nothing else.
The main character is insufferable but that’s the whole point. I just wish it was done better, more epic/intense because I wasn’t encouraged to read further. 
Overall it was okay but boring to read and in the ending there’s zero conclusion or sort of outcome so you have to like philosophising about content afterwards to make the book make sense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Self harm, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Rape, Body horror, Death, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship