Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Penance by Eliza Clark

40 reviews

em815ily's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Outing, Suicide, Torture, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Self harm, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Body shaming

nialystic's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Bullying, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Child death, Toxic friendship, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Rape, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Torture, Classism, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Self harm, Stalking, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, and Outing

elenakperez's review

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

5.0

As someone who was a young girl on Tumblr in 2012 and in middle/high school in the 2010s, much of this book is familiar to me because of the online spaces I was tangential to at those times. Also, as a person who consumed true crime via podcasts and documentaries recently, this book has changed the way I consume true crime. This book has been eye-opening and really made me reflect on my own consumption of true crime as well as how our society engages with what is now an industry that profits off of retelling the oftentimes unsanctioned stories of peoples' real and very personal tragedies. I would recommend this book to everyone I know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Alcohol, Grief, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Mental illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Self harm, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Child death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

rallythealli's review

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Holy shit, such an intriguing look into true crime, the effects it can have and how being a teenage girl is awful. Fascinating and horrifying. Check the trigger warnings for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Self harm, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, and Bullying

katarinabee's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Pedophilia, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, Mental illness, and Child death

Moderate: Classism, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Self harm, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Bullying, and Rape

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

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

mookisbooks's review

dark sad tense slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Torture, Bullying, Child death, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts

opldxblqo's review

dark medium-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

I am exactly the demographic for this book: late 20s white woman who spent considerable time on Tumblr in the early 2010s; this book would have fallen short if not for lighting up the teenage nostalgia centers of my brain with its references to the edgy internet culture of my morbid youth (No, I wasn't ever in a serial killer fandom, but I ate up true crime and occasionally looked at "pro ana" blogs with a horrified outsider's fascination). Any reader who missed out on the absolute chum bucket that was Tumblr in the early 2010s (lucky you!) will likely be bored by large chunks of this book.
Despite its heavy reliance on niche internet nostalgia, what Clark gets right in Penance is the critical look at the culture of violence entertainment in true crime media. Penance asks readers to look inward at their rubber-necking voyeurism without scolding; asks readers to question the motives of true crime content creators, and understand that this content more often than not retraumatizes victims' families. Though this exact critique has been explored many times through fiction in the last couple of years in novels such as I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (blah), and Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (five starts!), Penance does so much more thoroughly through the use of metanarrative. The sections of prose are well written and each character feels fully fleshed and complex; a delightful surprise after Clark's disappointing first novel, Boy Parts.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Mass/school shootings, Incest, Gun violence, Child death, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Murder, Torture, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Death

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