Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Penance by Eliza Clark

37 reviews

coffeekitaab's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Alcoholism, Self harm, Violence, Body horror, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Biphobia, Blood, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Infidelity, Murder, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, and Vomit

gia0203's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So engaging, so well-structured. At times I felt intimately connected to these characters. This has a lot to say about true crime as a genre - both as an exploitative, profit-led form of entertainment, but also as a source of comfort for young people. I found the narrator to be genuinely unsettling. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Self harm, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Suicide, Violence, Body shaming, and Blood

Minor: Homophobia, Addiction, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, and Vomit

katndrsn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Bullying, Murder, Sexual violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Pedophilia, Torture, Misogyny, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Vomit, Lesbophobia, Drug use, and Religious bigotry

shelfofunread's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Child death, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Cursing, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death of parent, Biphobia, Self harm, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Classism

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

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

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