Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Penance

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Penance by Eliza Clark

18 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.

Content Warnings

caroisreading's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

sophie______a's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

em815ily's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

darlingsterns's review against another edition

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5.0

5 ★ raising my rating to five stars because i read this in july and think about it every day

content warnings: Spoiler arson, murder, torture, blood/gore, sexual assault (mentions), pedophilia, rape of a child (past), school shooting/massacre (past), necrophilia (mentions), bullying (graphic), body shaming, humiliation, toxic relationships/friendships, manipulation, violence, cutting, self-harm jokes, Holocaust joke, homophobia/lesbophobia, homophobic slurs, ableist language, racism, classism, outing, abortion (mention), miscarriage (mention), drug/alcohol use

Content Warnings

bek_p87's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-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

4.75

This was dark, twisted, and thought-provoking on several levels. Presented as a non-fiction true-crime book about a horrific fictional murder in a small seaside town, this is about evil, our fascination with it, and how capitalism monetises this fascination.

Content Warnings

deannamartin113's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.75

A mimic book. A book that is a novel, but presents itself as a non-fiction, true crime book. It explores the damage that the true crime community (podcasts, Reddit groups, Tumblr, books, and others) can have on the victims, the victim’s families, the perpetrators, the perpetrator’s families and the community at large.

I had a true crime season. I thought I partook responsibly, but I’m rethinking that. The true crime podcasts I listened/watched are very well made. Their stories are well written and captivating. How much artistic license is taken with their stories?

They can tell us until they’re blue in the face that they’ve spoken with the victim’s family and have their blessing, but they give no proof, or receipts (in internet parlance).

I was becoming more uncomfortable with one of the TC podcasts I watched when they covered current cases, or even open cases with suspects, because one host was particularly intense about who she considered guilty. Once she considers you guilty, she’s like a dog with a meaty bone. The comments and innuendo never stop. Her jokes about the suspect never stop. ‘Innocent until proven guilty’ is not a phrase she particularly likes, however she will yell long and loud about her own freedoms.

I find a gaping disconnect there.

Penance is not a book to read lightly. TW for s**cide, miscarriage, murder, some graphic, teen drinking violence, SA off page, misogyny language, gaslighting all over the place, gross sexual language and jokes, and probably more I’m missing.

I think I am finished with True Crime podcasts and books. I’m not sure how I feel about crime documentaries, except that they need a governing body to impose standards. I’ll stick to reading the court documents, watching the actual trials, and listening to the commentary of real lawyers - there’s plenty of them on YouTube now. I’m looking at you, @theemilydbaker

Content Warnings