Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Penance by Eliza Clark

128 reviews

iheartm4m's review against another edition

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

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

brontesmovingbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Penance was a brutal book. 

It’s not for people with no stomach for violence. However I will say it refreshingly lacked a lot of on-screen gore or crime. Mostly it was descriptions. 

I found it a complex and deep dive into girlhood and it’s extremes. 
I also live strikingly close to and are a similar age to the fictional girls involved. So it really hit home. 
I too was a depressed teen girl on tumblr begging to fit in and never quite managing. 

 

I will say however high my rating  I did find one major flaw in the book for me personally. 
Joni. 

I still can’t decide if it was intentional by Clark or not. I believe it was based on the last section (the interview).  But I still don’t enjoy that we know more about the murderers than we do the victim. 
I believe this ties into the authors narrative around true crime and it’s community, but it was still disappointing. 

Overall wow. It was truly haunting. And I think it will stay with me for a very long time. 
I have never read such a scathing look of true crime and it was phenomenal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Racism

rebeccafarren's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

rcy's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Pocket hell. Tiny hell.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse

milesjmoran's review against another edition

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

etbliss's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

i have never read a book that so accurately depicted what it was like to be on tumblr i’m actually shaking it was so good!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

sleaterkenneth's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

2.0

Like Devil House but worse. I had similar issues with Boy Parts and I think they both just need a stronger edit, granted this is an ARC but there were parts where the same thing was repeated with only slight alterations in the same paragraph. Overall... I think it lacks empathy? A decent narrator? I understand that the narrator is unreliable but that doesn't excuse the complete lack of emotional investment and teenage slang that doesn't fit the time period/era of tumblr. I did tear through it and was interested in how everything would shake out so that has to count for something, begging everyone to read Devil House yet again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

lbhreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this one took me back to my old ways - reading a 400+ page book in 2 days 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Classism