A review by froon
Penance by Eliza Clark

4.5

very addicting read! i think clark captured the idiosyncrasies of tumblr quite well⏤almost too well that perhaps the barrier of entry for this book would be to have had an overactive tumblr account in the early 2010s.

the commentary was very pointed, and i found the characters fleshed out and complex. i really loved the multimedia sections (especially the tumblr posts). 

my criticisms are mostly with the last section of the book.

i could tell there was something off with the narrator (exemplified in the “italian’s are oppressed too” comment which made the tweet making fun of it so much funnier), so the reveal that he was scummy was gratifying if not predictable. however, i think the narrator limited the story in someways. particularly with the resolution (or culmination?) of the mentions of his daughters death. i.e when he said that he used to stand over his daughter’s bed for hours at night. do we take that as an admission of guilt? or what? a jab at something like that towards the end, when we’re finally outside his point of view, would’ve satisfied my curiosity. i was also a little disappointed with the latter half of the “Girl C” section, but given the constraints of the story, i’m not sure how that could have been fixed.

overall, a really great book. it’s plot probably could’ve been avoided if dolly and violet were really into like one direction or kpop rpf.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault