Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Penance by Eliza Clark

39 reviews

taliakdean's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Vomit, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Incest, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Dysphoria, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Torture

Minor: Dementia, Body shaming, Racism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Grief, Abortion, Miscarriage, Outing, and Pregnancy

aileron's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Kidnapping, Bullying, Death, Child death, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Classism, Confinement, Racism, Self harm, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

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

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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

shelfofunread's review

challenging dark 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: Mass/school shootings, Child death, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Cursing, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death of parent, Biphobia, Self harm, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Classism

geraldinerowe's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

I haven't read Boy Parts so this was my first taste of Eliza Clark's writing and I found it outstanding. The whole thing messes with your head as the vast majority of Penance is a fictional book written by a fictional author, but you're also aware from the beginning that this fictional book in this fictional world might not be entirely true. In all this, Eliza Clark manages to make adolescents' speech and writing styles not just understandable but compelling. I think the unreliable narrator is made a little too much of and is there to add an extra dimension to the book's criticism of True Crime, but it would have been less of a book without it. I'm off out to buy Boy Parts now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Death, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, and Gun violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Racism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Classism, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

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!

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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

danidamico's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Me gustó, empecemos por eso. Pero tengo que admitir que Penance, mi lanzamiento literario más anticipado de 2023, no cumplió con mis expectativas. Boy Parts, la primera novela de la autora británica Eliza Clark, es una de mis lecturas favoritas de los últimos años, me encantó, por eso esperaba con mucho entusiasmo esta segunda novela. Penance es la crónica de un crimen ficcional, el asesinato de la adolescente Joan Wilson en manos de tres compañeras del colegio en un pueblo costero de Inglaterra. Clark construye un narrador que juega el rol de escritor de la crónica, con guiños a A sangre fría de Truman Capote y a la cultura del true crime. Sé que no debería comparar, pero es inevitable; este libro difiere muchísimo del debut de la autora, que era una narración en primera persona super visceral, vertiginosa y llena de personalidad. Era una bomba. Penance es un texto mucho más distante y fríamente calculado, extrañé todas las cualidades explosivas que había encontrado en Boy Parts, cuya dedicatoria decía algo así como "papá y mamá, no lean este libro". En cambio, en la sección de agradecimientos de Penance, Clark dice "este sí lo pueden leer". Creo que eso resume bastante bien las diferencias entre las dos obras.

La novela me pareció interesante, en su mayor parte me atrapó bastante y llegué hasta el final sin problema, pero sí creo que hay instancias en las que la escritura cae en un detallismo excesivo que ralentiza demasiado el relato. Tengo que decirlo, hubo varios pasajes que me salteé porque sinceramente no aportaban mucho a la historia más que un efecto de realismo. Es cierto que todo está muy bien construido y el verosímil funciona a la perfección, el pueblo aparece como un personaje más, pero no sentí necesaria la descripción tan detallada de la vida de personajes irrelevantes o del pasado del lugar. En ese sentido, hubo momentos de la lectura en los que me aburrí un poco y el ritmo no se mantuvo. También pasó que el libro me recordó a textos de otros autores (por ejemplo, Matt Wesolowski) y no lo percibí tan original como algunas personas señalaron en redes. No sé, creo que puse a Clark en un pedestal y eso hizo que fuese muy difícil cumplir con lo que esperaba en mi cabeza. Claramente la novela no me disgustó, por algo la estoy puntuando con 4 estrellas, pero bueno, me gusta documentar mis reacciones y sentimientos, que en este caso tuvieron algo de decepción. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Self harm

erint251's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

My favourite aspect of this book is the way Clark can shift between different voices seamlessly. Each character's contributions felt so distinct. The "excerpts" from Tumblr posts and podcasts had me dying, very well-observed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape and Pedophilia

milesjmoran's review

dark funny mysterious sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence