Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Penance by Eliza Clark

125 reviews

signeskov's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This is a novel who plays with genre successfully and asks the right questions to its audience, content, and the right of the genre to even exist.

What is it that fascinates us about true crime? Why has this grown as a trend in recent years? Are the books any better than the podcasts? What role does fiction play in the account of the non-fictional? And, most interestingly to me, what does fan culture and online fellowship mean to the consumption of true crime?

As one final interviewer of the fictional author of the novel, Penance, prompted:

“You essentially made the story of her daughter’s murder into an entertaining piece of fiction. It’s like you saw a number of primary sources and had contact with people who knew the girls, and you proceeded to more or less write fanfiction about the case. How do you square that with [your] idea of [writing] emotional truth?”

I don’t have any answers to any of the questions I asked above, but I do know that this novel moved me to think critically about the true crime genre in a way I hadn’t before. I don’t consume much true crime content, but either way the premise of this novel drew me in. The fascination of three girls being able to do something so terrible warrants a human need to understand why such a thing might have happened. I even found myself googling whether this case was actually real or fictional - Eliza Clark’s case in point with writing this novel, really.

This was a really interesting read for me as someone who was around the same age as these fictional girls when the events took place. I was also on Tumblr and part of some of their more innocent fandoms like Glee. I know only too well what a ridiculous place Tumblr was in building community though intense aesthetic, fanfiction and shipping cultures. 

While I didn’t see much toxicity in the Tumblr strands I was in at the time, I’m sure that looking back now that it was. It makes you think: if I had had less of a secure childhood and teenage years, could I have become part of these dark sides of the community and have its content fuel my emotions with even more angst and anger? Most likely, yes. I imagine many young girls could have been prone to that.

The final point about a new fandom being built around Jodie’s murder really drove the nail into the coffin of Eliza Clark’s point on genre.

In the end, this book left me thinking and will sit with me for some time. That’s always a good thing when that happens. I recommend the audio book version of this as well - the characterization of the main character’s voices are something that engages you but also encourages you to stay a critical listener as well as reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Grief, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Self harm, Rape, Outing, Murder, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Sexism, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Blood

caroisreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

Eliza Clark is masterful at storytelling and character/world-building. She has laid out the entire plot in the first few pages, yet you're left intrigued and increasingly absorbed as the book moves on. 

"Penance" focuses on the perspectives of four teen girls, schoolmates at a small coastal town in England. They are, at varying degrees, involved in the gruesome demise of Joni, a fellow student in their class. 

The layer on top of this plot is that we are reading the POV of a fictional author who has interviewed the characters and researched Joni's case. He's an unreliable narrator to say the least. It's Inception-y, and lets us sit at a distance from the horror, like a sobering buffer. 

With this in mind, Clark plays with our sense of what is real and what is not. I found myself Googling events that were completely fictional, though there are references to real platforms, psychopaths, books and a school shooting. This disorients you as a reader, and mimics the delusion and untruthiness taking place with the characters, and true crime in general.

What definitely feels real are the Tumblr posts, and the fangirls who idolize and fictionalize mass murderers. Clark spends a lot of time illustrating this world, and we sit in the discomfort for a while. It's a paradoxically naive and dark place. 

I should add, the author purposefully avoids going into specifics of what these characters physically do to Joni

beyond setting fire

. You can assume you will fill in the details yourself, which is a wild realization.

After assessing the TWs, I recommend this book as dark, brutal, engaging read with the most well-crafted characters I've ever come across. Keep reminding yourself it's fiction, but not really.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Eating disorder, Incest, Death of parent, Homophobia, Gore, Rape, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Vomit

cwgraham's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Rape, Mass/school shootings, Child abuse, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Torture, Pedophilia, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, Alcoholism, and Blood

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense 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

Ok i actually wayyyy preferred this to boy parts, it wasnt so hyper focused on a single super unlikeable character but builds more depth to the characters i think, in some ways not as focused on the violence aspect but in a way that made it seem far darker and more violent overall i think, i preferred pretty much everything in this tbh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Torture, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Pedophilia

arayo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gun violence, Murder, Child death, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Child abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Racism, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Kidnapping

Minor: Xenophobia, Cursing, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Body shaming, and Animal cruelty

cadence99's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

4.5

What a VISCERAL experience of a book as a woman who grew up online in the 2010’s- this has so many elements that made it a perfect read for me: the most unreliable narrator, niche tumblr cringe, and true crime community critique. This is definitely a unique experience of a book that I wouldn’t recommend to just anyone BUT it worked SO well for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Body horror, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Homophobia, Alcohol, Torture, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Body shaming, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Xenophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, and Police brutality

grahammoore's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Incest, and Child abuse

sophie______a's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Torture, Body shaming, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Sexual content, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Physical abuse, Grief, Self harm, and Classism

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-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

4.25

 Penance is a wonderfully engaging, multilayered fictional true crime novel. It looks at the dark side of the internet - tumblr fandoms as echo chambers - and what can happen when relationships among teenage girls go bad. There' s a focus on class, and Clark has fun with the unreliable narrator trope and the exploitative aspects of the fascination with true crime. I enjoyed the multimedia aspects and the novel as a whole, although sometimes it felt a little long and overly detailed, something that could have been a deliberate, conscious choice. Be warned - the opening section is graphic and tough to read, but it is worth persevering. Great storytelling and thoroughly absorbing. I couldn't look away.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, and Murder

lweezthereadrat's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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

4.0

The premise made me pick this up because true crime makes me squirm- it was interesting to see it pastiched and dissected. I would've loved some more of the interview/aftermath of the book in the book being published, the last ten pages were exhilarating. The main meat of the book is also gripping but very grim- I was seriously worried I wouldn't be able to stomach Penance after the first twenty pages but luckily Clark doesn't linger on the unpleasant details.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Suicide, Blood, and Fatphobia