Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Penance by Eliza Clark

110 reviews

aquariusvintage's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Toxic friendship, Murder, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Sexual assault and Child abuse

carly_reads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Did you listen to a podcast? Did the hosts make jokes? Do you have a dark sense of humour? Did that make it okay? Or were they sensitive about it? Did they coo in the right places? Did they give you a content warning? Did you skip ahead? Did you see pictures? Did you look for them?

From the jump it’s clear that Eliza Clark is an incredibly talented writer. The way she’s able to depict the distinct tone of every character was actually kinda freaking me out- especially when it would be a transcript of a flippant podcast or a tumblr comment. Uncanny. 

This is an unflinching look at the ethics of the way we talk about true crime cases and victims as well as how we talk to the people around them. Furthermore, it asks us to consider journalistic integrity and accuracy/objectivity. Who has the right to tell the story? When talking about true crime, it feels like people forget that these are real people whose real lives have been turned upside down and the line between the curiosity we feel and being invasive is thin. 

Overarching topics/themes/points of interests: toxic internet culture, toxic friendships, ethics of true crime, men telling women’s stories, fandoms, and more.

Expanding on ways that toxic internet culture is depicted: online bullying and mental health implications, the disconnect between online personas and how people are perceived in real life, and what happens when an online persona is outed in an insular setting like high school. “Tumblr did ‘cancel culture’ before cancel culture was a thing.” Also something I couldn’t stop thinking about was the casual way people tend to talk about horrific things online and even subsequent romanization. Quotes like “entry level serial killers” and the idea of “flower crowns on mass shooters” stood out to me and reminded me of the AHS edits of Tate in the skeleton makeup I’d see when I was younger. 

Something to note: the narrator insists he passes no judgement on anyone who was involved but seems to play with the question of whether Joni’s murder was justified.  Maybe that was just me. The decision to have a male narrator talking about high school girls was also particularly impactful to me. With the opening letting the reader know that we have an unreliable narrator, it really colors the way he dramatizes the information into prose and dialogue. 

I’ve never read a true crime book before but I imagine this is how it would be (although this is obviously fiction). I did get ever so slightly bored at times, but everything adds up to play a role in the bigger picture. I do wish that I understood more about the Brexit implications, but that’s a me thing, not the author. I’ll probably think about this book for the rest of my life. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Suicide, and Torture

vastlecania's review against another edition

3.0

It's fine. I found it challenging to read mostly because it seems quite cynical, and it's a lot of high school drama. The framing device of "this book was written by a scumbag" is fascinating but undercuts the material a bit.  I spent a lot of time thinking about that meta layer. Perhaps that's the intention but it felt fairly shallow to me. The guy sucks! 

I wonder if i would be more impacted if i was either closer OR farther from mid aughts Tumblr. As it stands, I was well aware of the horrors of tumblr but never truly experienced them myself. So this was neither shocking nor relatable/personal to me.

I really enjoyed the way that the fictional author constantly undercuts himself and accidentally paints a terrible image of his actions. That was very clever and only a little on the nose.

Overall i wouldn't recommend or disrecommend this book. It's alright! The concept is unique! I just think it falls a little short of its own goals.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Ableism

Minor: Sexual assault and Child abuse

aloe_v's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The blurring between fiction and non-fiction was quite trippy when reading the book,

and given the ending guardian interview, within the fiction, which accuses the in-book author of blurring fiction and non-fiction, I realise now the interesting parallels there between the fictional readers and real readers.

It was also interesting that, as I read, I thought it was actually a male author because of the in-book author, and only reading the acknowledgements did i realise it was not. This was another interesting thing that "caught me", as I'd felt a bit uncertain about a male writing about teenage female relationships, and that it was a bit infantilising/dismissive at times, and I realise now, that was likely intentional on the real authors part - or at least, thats my intepretation.

Reading time 5h54m.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Torture, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Self harm, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

sneha_sarcar's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Mass/school shootings, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

matilda_holroyd_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Not my style of book dark and depressing and was hoping for a big twist that didn’t come. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Addiction, Violence, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Self harm, Body horror, Gore, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Death, Hate crime, Body shaming, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

peckreadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Child death

bisexualbookshelf's review against another edition

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse

Childhood sexual assault trigger warning

applesodaperson's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

This book was definitely good, but honestly not quite as good as expected. It was not as good as Boy Parts in opinion. Some more random thoughts that I had were that this would have been good as an audio book, like listening to a real true crime podcast. Also I feel like the character of Vance Diamond was totally based on Jimmy Savile, a real life celebrity pedophile in the UK. Also, I felt like I was the exact target demographic for this book, because I seriously understood all the niche internet references in this. Also, the characters did not feel incredibly realistic. But yeah it was good just not amazing or perfect.
Read from the Provo library.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Torture, and Child abuse

Moderate: Ableism and Homophobia

Minor: Rape

whatlexysaid's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Alcohol, Murder, Violence, Drug use, Cursing, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Mass/school shootings, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Torture, and Child death