Reviews with content warning for Classism - Boy Parts

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

51 reviews

gia0203's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

1.0

I really didn’t click with this. the writing style grated on me, nothing much happened, and it felt like a vague array of concepts strung together loosely without any clear direction. penance was grounded and disturbing and beautiful and this was so underwhelming in comparison.

it’s a shame because the main character is a northern queer woman and I’ve never read a book set where I live before. I really thought I was gonna love this but it was so repetitive - for much of the novel irina is drinking, smoking and taking drugs, or manipulating the people around her, or both at the same time. it didn’t really feel like anything was happening, even when the narrative took a different turn.

the most interesting parts of the novel, to me, where irina’s friend flo and eddie, but they were left with no conclusion either. the hook was so captivating, so engaging, but this is where my interest ended. as a concept this novel works very well but as an actual book I just could not connect to it.

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solspringsreads's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book is just American Psycho’s sister, British Photographer. I’m not mad about it, but I don’t think that this is any more disturbing or dark than that. The book doesn’t really “go” anywhere, but that’s kind of the point by the end. It feels wrong to call this book “fun” when it has some genuinely distressing content and themes, but frankly, I don’t know if I totally consider this to be a horror novel—if anything, it’s a character study of an incredibly unreliable narrator who’s (possibly? probably?) done some really dark things and had equally horrible things happen to her, and while the stuff is horrific, I personally never felt like my pulse was “racing” in the way one might associate with a psychological thriller. Even so, I mostly enjoyed this book, though it really significantly picks up in the second half.

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deanchaudhri's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

fav quote: “she liked Harry Styles a few years ago, and now she likes that white-bread, absolutely fucking baguette of a lad from Call Me by Your Name”. This book is p much just unhinged feral woman does unhinged feral things to men that get progessively more unhinged and feral. not sure i got the deeper commentary of it all but it was *interesting* to read ! the tw list gives an indication of the unhingedness at play lmao

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chiar_'s review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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bea_sr_my's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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shancraic's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

loved loved loved. i get that this is a Shocking Statement for the girlies who have no idea how to describe this beyond 'um... female american psycho?' but i loved the main character and identified with her in a lot of ways - we share a very similar background (live in the same place in the UK, even!) and it was almost like looking into a very fucked up alternate dimension in a way. i felt sorry for her and i wanted to succeed and i know that realistically, she can't, and she's doomed to be her mother and to get worse and to rot, but that urge to be SEEN and KNOWN spoke to me so distinctly there was no way i just couldn't love her even despite her terrible cruelty and the things she'd done.

the book WAS wobbly at parts, will probably age poorly for things that are admittedly funny now but will be nigh incoherent to anyone reading this in 20 years time, and the ending is a bit of a dealbreaker for some (not me, and not after the disappointment of our wives under the sea - that WAS a stinker) but ultimately, it crafted a world that i could understand and relate to in so many ways. really special book for me.

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atiek's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

2.75

I Mistook this book for A CERTAIN HUNGER. Kept wondering when she would start eating boy parts. Turned out to be the female Patrick Bateman. Not likable and unreliable. Listened to this on audio and enjoyed Eliza Clark's narration although I feel like it was 5 hours too long.

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