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A review by laraamaee
Penance by Eliza Clark
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Now, I wasn’t a teenager into serial killers, but this story hit so close to home.
I used to be into a bit of true crime before I turned too squeamish, and although I wasn’t on Tumblr, I grew up heavily online, so it was jarring to see all the internet language and niche references I used to know on the page. Combined with the book making me reminisce on my school days—with its ‘popular’ and ‘nerdy’ groups, its bullying, its dramas—and the fact that it’s set in a North Yorkshire seaside town so close to where I grew up going to the beach (Scarborough), this novel was eerily familiar; especially because I was also a closeted lesbian like some of these characters.
I haven’t read Boy Parts yet, but I can tell Eliza Clark is an incredible writer. Not only are you immediately drawn in, unable to put the book down, and feel so strongly about the characters, but both the story and the criticism of true crime, the media, and British politics are brilliant.
This was truly a unique reading experience that was so familiar to my own experiences, it was unsettling (yes, I even had bad experiences at water parks). I’m just glad I wasn’t ’putting flower crowns on serial killers’ and building torture basements on The Sims…and yet Clark tapping into these characters that delve into the darkest parts of themselves—and ourselves—is really revealing. If you grew up online, too, and/or if you know about or are interested in true crime, you must read this book.
(Teenagers scare the shit out of me…)
I used to be into a bit of true crime before I turned too squeamish, and although I wasn’t on Tumblr, I grew up heavily online, so it was jarring to see all the internet language and niche references I used to know on the page. Combined with the book making me reminisce on my school days—with its ‘popular’ and ‘nerdy’ groups, its bullying, its dramas—and the fact that it’s set in a North Yorkshire seaside town so close to where I grew up going to the beach (Scarborough), this novel was eerily familiar; especially because I was also a closeted lesbian like some of these characters.
I haven’t read Boy Parts yet, but I can tell Eliza Clark is an incredible writer. Not only are you immediately drawn in, unable to put the book down, and feel so strongly about the characters, but both the story and the criticism of true crime, the media, and British politics are brilliant.
This was truly a unique reading experience that was so familiar to my own experiences, it was unsettling (yes, I even had bad experiences at water parks). I’m just glad I wasn’t ’putting flower crowns on serial killers’ and building torture basements on The Sims…and yet Clark tapping into these characters that delve into the darkest parts of themselves—and ourselves—is really revealing. If you grew up online, too, and/or if you know about or are interested in true crime, you must read this book.
(Teenagers scare the shit out of me…)