Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Penance by Eliza Clark

5 reviews

jen_prouvaire's review

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

---

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

sarahrosebooknook's review

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. 

---

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

sarah984's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.0

This book was fine, it captured the voices of the teens and (most of) the internet culture of the era really well, but I do think it fell into its own trap a bit in over focusing on the perpetrators without a lot of self awareness, and a few things about the internet culture of the time are inaccurate in a way that annoyed me (especially the assertion about ao3 because I think the truth actually adds to the book's point). The twist is so obvious from pretty much the beginning that the epilogue feels like a joke.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Gore, Body shaming, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Medical content

Minor: Death of parent, Rape, Drug use, Racism, Eating disorder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abortion, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

coffeekitaab's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Alcoholism, Self harm, Violence, Body horror, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Biphobia, Blood, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Infidelity, Murder, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, and Vomit

iheartm4m's review

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!

---

Content Warnings

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

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