Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Penance by Eliza Clark

50 reviews

naturally's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racism, Alcohol, Drug use, and Pedophilia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

whoisrois's review

challenging dark funny sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

books written for me specifically 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Medical content, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Ableism, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcohol, Racism, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Islamophobia, Medical content, Rape, Fatphobia, Classism, and Medical trauma

carbs666's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.25

I really like a book that bends the concept of truth and this book does an excellent job with that! The "true" account of a functional murder written by a scummy ex-journalist, the central narrative of the brutal murder of a high school girl by her classmates is bookended by fictional publishers notes and news articles describing how the narrator may have made it all - or most of it - up. There's a lot going on in this book and Clark does a great job if mimicking the narrative non-fiction true crim writing style, which occasionally meanders into historical sidebars that aren't totally relevant but add a lot of colour. Clark also display such a keen and detailed understanding of the experience of being a teenage girl throughout this book - the romantic answer sexual fumbling, the reversals of fortune, all of it. Strongly recommend if you like true crime or stories about people with questionable morals.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Alcohol

laran_s's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, Torture, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Ableism, and Classism

caissa_chthonia's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved it. It made me happy, it made me angry, I had a great time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Body horror

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Self harm, Violence, Addiction, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Sexual violence, and Alcoholism

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicide, Fatphobia, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Rape

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

darlingsterns's review against another edition

5.0

5 ★ raising my rating to five stars because i read this in july and think about it every day


content warnings: Spoiler arson, murder, torture, blood/gore, sexual assault (mentions), pedophilia, rape of a child (past), school shooting/massacre (past), necrophilia (mentions), bullying (graphic), body shaming, humiliation, toxic relationships/friendships, manipulation, violence, cutting, self-harm jokes, Holocaust joke, homophobia/lesbophobia, homophobic slurs, ableist language, racism, classism, outing, abortion (mention), miscarriage (mention), drug/alcohol use 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Outing, Toxic friendship, Torture, Physical abuse, Bullying, Murder, Violence, and Body shaming

Moderate: Drug use, Sexism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Racism, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Rape, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Antisemitism, Abortion, and Miscarriage

nicole__reads's review

challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

5.0

A gruesome, extraordinary novel that delivers a multifaceted critique of the pop culture true crime obsession, with a story that pulls you in and requires reflecting on your own engagement with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Gun violence, Self harm, Child death, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, and Sexual assault

erikoo's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

writeasiread's review

medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Sexism, Murder, and Bullying

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Fatphobia, Classism, Child death, Body shaming, Alcohol, and Ableism