Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Penance by Eliza Clark

70 reviews

geraldinerowe's review against another edition

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

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

eliza clark is a bloody genius.
even though i'm not into true crime, not in the slightest actually, she was able to draw me in completely. this was a disturbing read, but also so much fun. from relatable sims 4 references to badly written school shooter fanfic, this had everything to properly entertain you.
 
it explored the depths of the internet and school life from the perspectives of a couple of very different people from very different backgrounds.
it was perfect. (but perhaps i'm also just a little biased because most of the references in this book just made so much sense to me as someone who used to spend - and still does - way too much time on the internet). an incredible read.

literally the only thing i didn't quite enjoy was the length and extensity. there were lots of chapters about the history of crow-on-sea and it was necessary, of course, and didn't feel like it was irrelevant at all, but personally, i just found that a little boring.

also, as i've mentioned before, i'm not really into true crime, so this was already a little bit of meh-territory you know.

but f- it, i still had a blast.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Bullying, Alcohol, Child death, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Drug use, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent, Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, and Rape

tillydaisym's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, and Pedophilia

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: 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

milliemark's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Mass/school shootings and Alcoholism

leahisdudish's review against another edition

4.0

oh eliza you terrifying genius you

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Torture, Child death, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

baielleebooks's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.25

Penance is dynamic in its structure and blooms royally in relation to how of contemporary prominence it feels. A great novel exploring the egregiousness of creators and writers mining into real human suffering for the sake of intellectual propriety and fame.
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There is a real sense of embeddedess in the way Clark writes; in passages of representing darker internet subcultures to the humourous and complicated renderings of English village living to Carelli's enraging fallacies conjured around terms like 'plasticity' and 'emotional truth' that strike a chord with the current political moment. 
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My only minor gripe is Angelica as a significant feature of the novel doesn't necessarily feel as flesh and blood as other characters. Penance's literary vision makes us aware that these characters come into being through Carelli's warped presentations of them, yet I still feel that Angelica doesn't necessarily harmonise as well in the book's broader framing. 
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Overall, Penance dazzles and is definitely a book I am chomping at the bit to reccomend to friends. Tackling with embodiedness and deftness the muddy relationships people can share with truth and the gritty morbidity of human fascination.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, Bullying, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence

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: 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

solasuaine's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

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, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, Torture, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Blood, Death, Rape, and Violence

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