Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Penance by Eliza Clark

14 reviews

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

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

laran_s's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, Torture, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Ableism, and Classism

elenakperez's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

As someone who was a young girl on Tumblr in 2012 and in middle/high school in the 2010s, much of this book is familiar to me because of the online spaces I was tangential to at those times. Also, as a person who consumed true crime via podcasts and documentaries recently, this book has changed the way I consume true crime. This book has been eye-opening and really made me reflect on my own consumption of true crime as well as how our society engages with what is now an industry that profits off of retelling the oftentimes unsanctioned stories of peoples' real and very personal tragedies. I would recommend this book to everyone I know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Alcohol, Grief, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Mental illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Self harm, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Child death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

rzh's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

floored 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Murder, Death, Torture, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Grief, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

ginagray's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Child death, Blood, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Murder, Gore, Torture, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, and Bullying

cabeswaters's review against another edition

challenging dark

5.0

Tumblr was an awful website.

seriously blew me away. an insight into small town communities, tumblr in the mid 2010s, dark corners of the internet, childhood trauma, and the tension and toxicity betwen teenage girls, all filtered through a quite meta criticism of true crime storytelling. gave me some quite strong flashbacks. i want to eat it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Suicide

catriona176's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A masterpiece in fictional true crime, it examines a horrific crime from the viewpoint of all three perpetrators and an innocent swept up in the aftermath. Clearly inspired by the murder of Shonda Sharer, it is sometimes quite hard to read, but very true to life, particularly in its portrayal of teenage female friendships and their cruelty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gun violence

Minor: Death of parent and Suicide

aloe_v's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

The blurring between fiction and non-fiction was quite trippy when reading the book,

and given the ending guardian interview, within the fiction, which accuses the in-book author of blurring fiction and non-fiction, I realise now the interesting parallels there between the fictional readers and real readers.

It was also interesting that, as I read, I thought it was actually a male author because of the in-book author, and only reading the acknowledgements did i realise it was not. This was another interesting thing that "caught me", as I'd felt a bit uncertain about a male writing about teenage female relationships, and that it was a bit infantilising/dismissive at times, and I realise now, that was likely intentional on the real authors part - or at least, thats my intepretation.

Reading time 5h54m.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Torture, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Self harm, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Child abuse