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A review by livres_de_bloss
Penance by Eliza Clark
Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.
This book could be (generously) described as a comprehensive autopsy of a fake crime. But,mon dieu, it’s so poorly written and executed that it made me angry. After reading some of the critical reviews, I feel confident that this continues and finishes unsatisfactorily so I’m calling ToD and DNF. I read to page 93 and skipped to page 399 to read the ending and UGH. I don’t want to waste any more energy on it, so take my reading notes and let’s call it done:
I hate true crime (and any fandom culture, really) so the layout, writing, and story didn’t do much for me because it’s trying to emulate true crime. Critical reviews point out this book is (not even subtly) based on a real murder, which is just gross. Any “commentary” the author was trying to make about the harmful and exploitative nature of true crime is totally undermined by her own exploitation of real victims and their families. Adding insult to injury, the author doesn’t acknowledge this “inspiration”.
The dialogue (podcast transcripts especially) was embarrassingly poor and made me wince a few times. The teenspeak was awful and not remotely relevant to the time period.
Writing didn’t work for me - very dry and flat. The ‘structure’ is basically an info dump. Abysmal pacing. Excessive filler. Spelling and grammar mistake abound. Desperately needed tighter editing. The characters were cardboard. Don’t even try and tell me this was intentional to illustrate how incompetent the journalist was… find me a single person that would choose to read a badly written, 400+ page book because iT’s ChArAcTeRiZaTiOn! It’s the authors job to make the read compelling and the editors job to make it coherent. This book is neither.
Book wasn’t sure what it wanted to be so doesn’t fully realize any of its potential on any themes. The claims of commentary on austerity/seaside towns in decline and ramifications of Brexit are patently false. A throwaway line or two isn’t critical commentary. Instead, author prioritized gratuitous violence and completely unneeded rambling tangents.
Why was it titled “Penance”? This isn’t a theme or thing in the book at all.
I came to dread picking this up and regret the time I spent with it. Waterstones recommendations always let me down. I guess it’s fair to not trust a bookshop: their priority is making money, not giving objective recs. 🤷🏼♀️
Hard do not recommend. If you have to read it, get it from the library. Don’t spend your money on this. Lastly, a gentle reminder that DNFing a bad book is self-care.
I hate true crime (and any fandom culture, really) so the layout, writing, and story didn’t do much for me because it’s trying to emulate true crime. Critical reviews point out this book is (not even subtly) based on a real murder, which is just gross. Any “commentary” the author was trying to make about the harmful and exploitative nature of true crime is totally undermined by her own exploitation of real victims and their families. Adding insult to injury, the author doesn’t acknowledge this “inspiration”.
The dialogue (podcast transcripts especially) was embarrassingly poor and made me wince a few times. The teenspeak was awful and not remotely relevant to the time period.
Writing didn’t work for me - very dry and flat. The ‘structure’ is basically an info dump. Abysmal pacing. Excessive filler. Spelling and grammar mistake abound. Desperately needed tighter editing. The characters were cardboard. Don’t even try and tell me this was intentional to illustrate how incompetent the journalist was… find me a single person that would choose to read a badly written, 400+ page book because iT’s ChArAcTeRiZaTiOn! It’s the authors job to make the read compelling and the editors job to make it coherent. This book is neither.
Book wasn’t sure what it wanted to be so doesn’t fully realize any of its potential on any themes. The claims of commentary on austerity/seaside towns in decline and ramifications of Brexit are patently false. A throwaway line or two isn’t critical commentary. Instead, author prioritized gratuitous violence and completely unneeded rambling tangents.
Why was it titled “Penance”? This isn’t a theme or thing in the book at all.
I came to dread picking this up and regret the time I spent with it. Waterstones recommendations always let me down. I guess it’s fair to not trust a bookshop: their priority is making money, not giving objective recs. 🤷🏼♀️
Hard do not recommend. If you have to read it, get it from the library. Don’t spend your money on this. Lastly, a gentle reminder that DNFing a bad book is self-care.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail