A review by jayb1rd
Penance by Eliza Clark

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

Penance is one hell of a book. At large, it is a critique of the true crime genre, focused specifically on a crime committed by teenage girls. It is a fictional republishing of an existing book, and we’re told on page 1 that what we’re about to read is a warped and manipulated ‘truth’. What the book does so well, I think, is make you forget that, through doing the exact things that make people grip onto true crime in the first place. The reason this book gets 5 starts to me is especially rooted in Clark’s horrifically accurate depictions of young girls in shitty towns, the horrible things they can do to each other (murder aside), and the exact nature of the online world. Finding a Homestuck reference literally gut-punched me. I was waaaaaay too online as a young teenager and the accuracy of the tumblr posts made me have to take a breather a few times lmaoooo. I couldn’t put this down and I’m super excited to see what else Eliza Clark writes, with an extra special spot in my heart for her roots in the North East of England.
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