Eliza Clark

A GRANTA BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELIST 2023'You've never read anything like this.' JULIA ARMFIELDDo you know what happened already? Did you know her? Did you see it on the internet? Did you listen to a podcast? Did the hosts make jokes?Did you see the pictures of the body?Did you look for them?It's been nearly a decade since the horrifying murder of sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson rocked Crow-on-Sea, and the events of that terrible night are now being published for the first time.That story is Penance, a dizzying feat of masterful storytelling, where Eliza Clark manoeuvres us through accounts from the inhabitants of this small seaside town. Placing us in the capable hands of journalist Alec Z. Carelli, Clark allows him to construct what he claims is the 'definitive account' of the murder - and what led up to it. Built on hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, painstaking historical research, and most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves, the result is a riveting snapshot of lives rocked by tragedy, and a town left in turmoil.The only question is: how much of it is true?**Eliza Clark's incendiary debut, Boy Parts, is available now**

Penance

The layers of unreliable narrators ugh delicious. So incredibly atmospheric and paints characters with so so much complexity that i was not expecting. 

ashley

Penance is a “mockumentary”-style “true crime” novel about a group of teenage girls murdering their classmate. The book’s narrator is a disgraced journalist attempting his big comeback by providing the ultimate coverage of this horrifying case by trying to deeply understand the victim, perpetrators, and community. Through interviews, tours,  letters, podcasts, and social media posts; he paints detailed biographies of the girls. Their morbid interests, escalating maliciousness, desire to conform, and groupthink eventually leads to the unthinkable. 

This is, accidentally, the second novel in a row that I’ve read that subverts and satirizes the true crime genre, and this was my favorite of the two. I leapt through this book: easy to read, interesting premise, gripping narrative, empathetic lens, clever positioning, and I liked the fun “primary source” inclusions with different styles and formats. It’s been a couple hours since I finished, and I’m still enjoying chewing on the ending. Eliza Clark pulled no punches on many things I enjoy/relate to: blogging about serial killers on tumblr, last podcast on the left, hate trains, killing your Sims, creepypasta, and of course: the occult. Despite, or probably because of, this I absolutely loved it.

constance

Penance is a “mockumentary”-style “true crime” novel about a group of teenage girls murdering their classmate. The book’s narrator is a disgraced journalist attempting his big comeback by providing the ultimate coverage of this horrifying case by trying to deeply understand the victim, perpetrators, and community. Through interviews, tours,  letters, podcasts, and social media posts; he paints detailed biographies of the girls. Their morbid interests, escalating maliciousness, desire to conform, and groupthink eventually leads to the unthinkable. 

This is, accidentally, the second novel in a row that I’ve read that subverts and satirizes the true crime genre, and this was my favorite of the two. I leapt through this book: easy to read, interesting premise, gripping narrative, empathetic lens, clever positioning, and I liked the fun “primary source” inclusions with different styles and formats. It’s been a couple hours since I finished, and I’m still enjoying chewing on the ending. Eliza Clark pulled no punches on many things I enjoy/relate to: blogging about serial killers on tumblr, last podcast on the left, hate trains, killing your Sims, creepypasta, and of course: the occult. Despite, or probably because of, this I absolutely loved it.

eliza clark loves an unreliable fucked up british narrator 

features an unfortunately well-done portrayal of really bad tumblr fandom spaces and the absolute horror of the true crime industry and the way it impacts teenagers and those who are in real bad places

did not expect to see “vriskadidnothingwrong” in this book but here we are

Clara Gauthier

eliza clark loves an unreliable fucked up british narrator 

features an unfortunately well-done portrayal of really bad tumblr fandom spaces and the absolute horror of the true crime industry and the way it impacts teenagers and those who are in real bad places

did not expect to see “vriskadidnothingwrong” in this book but here we are

Idk if I liked it or not but protect your kids from the internet 

✧༺♥༻✧

One word to describe my experience reading this book is 

I went in with no expectations, not really knowing what it's about, it just happened to be available for loan on Libby. I don't hear about this book as much as Boy Parts, but I was blown away. I was Locked In. I was surprised to find myself really liking how the narration is formatted and the use of multiple forms of media. It feels natural and convincing - being chronically online really became a strength for Eliza Clark in this book.

The last chapter is also mind blowing, in a way, left me feeling like I have been betrayed. It added onto the overall experience of reading the book, though. The one thing I am not fond of is how the story can definitely drag on for certain characters. It might make sense stylistically, and with the resolution it has, but I do want a longer portion of Joni's and Amanda's story.

Penance has made me really excited for Eliza Clark's other works.

Nova

One word to describe my experience reading this book is immersive.

I went in with no expectations, not really knowing what it's about, it just happened to be available for loan on Libby. I don't hear about this book as much as Boy Parts, but I was blown away. I was Locked In. I was surprised to find myself really liking how the narration is formatted and the use of multiple forms of media. It feels natural and convincing - being chronically online really became a strength for Eliza Clark in this book.

The last chapter is also mind blowing, in a way, left me feeling like I have been betrayed. It added onto the overall experience of reading the book, though. The one thing I am not fond of is how the story can definitely drag on for certain characters. It might make sense stylistically, and with the resolution it has, but I do want a longer portion of Joni's and Amanda's story.

Penance has made me really excited for Eliza Clark's other works.

Eliza Clark's brain needs to be picked apart and anayalsed section by section because what the hell was this book? It was gothic and  gory and disturbing and gross and so overly detailed yet vague that I was disgusted the whole time. The murder is crazy, the obsession with matty and brian is horrible and to top it all off, we don't even know if Alec was telling the truth? I think one reason I love this book so much is that it's set with the girl's being in Year 11, and all the petty girly fighting and arguing and friendgroups ect is so well written and I want to say accurate that the resemblance was uncanny, almost as if the author's 16 when writing this. And Violet's backstory made me cry so much, and Joni bullying Angelica just hurt so bad, because Angelica clearly had issues. She was brought up in a rightwing house hold with a neo nazi father who's bestfriend was a sexual abuser, ofcourse she bullied in primary. It just felt so horrible to watch her grow smaller and more shrunken because of Joni. But what if Alec made it seem greater than it actually was? What if Angelica was being dramatic? I have so many theories like it's unbelievable. It's only downfall is it has quite a big pacing issue that kinda slowed down the book alot and made it a little difficult to read. Would still recommend.

surtified™

good but ultimately it feels like three different books at once

envie,

I liked the multimedia sensibility the novel has and thus becomes kaleidoscopic in its look at the world revolving around true crime stories and perpetrators, the cycle, the spokes in the wheel that keeps the engine going.

Jess Rez

Penance is a take on investigative journalism/true crime that blurs the line between fact and fiction (both within the story and as I read it). I thought the style was very engaging and interesting but could be a little hard to follow with all the characters to keep up with, some more relevant than others. I’ll be honest there are a lot of stories in this novel that are very dark (at least from what I’m used to) but they do a good job of revealing a very sinister side of tumblr and the dark web. If you grew up in the age of tumblr you might find this particularly psychologically damaging. Overall this can only be described as a violent manifestation of the throes of teenage nihilism. 

TW: there are some pretty graphic descriptions of violence (the crime itself is a murder and other related crimes). 

Rana Sulieman

Penance is a take on investigative journalism/true crime that blurs the line between fact and fiction (both within the story and as I read it). I thought the style was very engaging and interesting but could be a little hard to follow with all the characters to keep up with, some more relevant than others. I’ll be honest there are a lot of stories in this novel that are very dark (at least from what I’m used to) but they do a good job of revealing a very sinister side of tumblr and the dark web. If you grew up in the age of tumblr you might find this particularly psychologically damaging. Overall this can only be described as a violent manifestation of the throes of teenage nihilism. 

TW: there are some pretty graphic descriptions of violence (the crime itself is a murder and other related crimes). 

I did not expect to see kinnies or tumblr culture or the term "fandom wank" explained in a novel but here we are. Eliza Clark, love and light to you for either having to find out about them or for already knowing those terms having witnessed them in real time.

I think I picked this up thinking I would get something more similar to Megan Abbott's work with real focus on how fucked up teenage girls can be. And I guess, in a sense, I did get that but not quite in the format I had anticipated.

However, I really enjoyed the commentary on the current true crime culture that the novel was making. It successfully touches upon the various dimensions of it - from podcasts to online blogs to RPF shipping - though there were sections of it that nearly felt preachy. But this was then rectified by the very last section of the book which really helps re-contextualise everything leading up to that point. (Though there are multiple points leading up to that that make the reader question the information they are being presented with). It is an interesting idea, a good one, but perhaps it needed to be a little more balanced in terms of the relevant sections.

I did not expect to see kinnies or tumblr culture or the term "fandom wank" explained in a novel but here we are. Eliza Clark, love and light to you for either having to find out about them or for already knowing those terms having witnessed them in real time.

I think I picked this up thinking I would get something more similar to Megan Abbott's work with real focus on how fucked up teenage girls can be. And I guess, in a sense, I did get that but not quite in the format I had anticipated.

However, I really enjoyed the commentary on the current true crime culture that the novel was making. It successfully touches upon the various dimensions of it - from podcasts to online blogs to RPF shipping - though there were sections of it that nearly felt preachy. But this was then rectified by the very last section of the book which really helps re-contextualise everything leading up to that point. (Though there are multiple points leading up to that that make the reader question the information they are being presented with). It is an interesting idea, a good one, but perhaps it needed to be a little more balanced in terms of the relevant sections.

armoni mayes

I really don’t know if i liked the book yet so i’ll get back around to updating this review at some point

arwen

clever commentary on the true crimes industry. i think the frame narrative was really interesting (blending the lines between fact & fiction, the interview/podcast/historical background format etc) but it didn't really work for me and i ended up skimming some parts. i also feel like this book was too long (and NGL i considered dnfing)

it might be one of my favorite books of all time. to be honest, i'm not a fan of true crime and i find most of the genre's content disturbing and unnecessary. however, i won't lie and pretend that often it can be engaging. i believe all humans can fall into morbid curiosity. 

this book is incredibly compelling, horrifying, hilarious and so well written. have you ever read "teen dialogue" and think "wow, this person has never met a teenager in their life?". this is the opposite of that. every discord message, every tumblr post, that entire chapter of mass shooter rpf is so real, i was so shocked. 

i can't stop recommending it.

an ugly, mesmerizing window into how insane it is that we just created the internet and made no rules for it whatsoever. If you were a tumblr girlie this book will feel like emotional violence

Margo Koss

This book is a deep dive into the dark lives of true crime, and who has the right to tell these stories. And, of why we are mesmerized by them. It was very uncomfortable and brilliantly written.

Cheri McElroy

Was so fckn amazed by its hellish portrayal of teenage friendship/its searing take down of true crime that I could look past pretty much any issue I had with it. Also the first book I've read in a while that has a realistic representation of teens in the Internet 

Regan Martin

This unsettling book digs into society's fixation on true crime through a fictional lens. 

Penance, presented as investigative journalism, recounts a gruesome murder in a northern seaside town during the Brexit vote. The novel's social and political context provides rich commentary, examining the decay of such towns and the impact of political and class divides. 

It also examines the dark side of society’s true-crime obsession, particularly internet fandom culture, portraying the darkness of 2010s Tumblr with chilling yet laugh-worthy accuracy. 

Eliza's authentic depiction of internet culture definitely provokes reflection on my own engagement with true crime. After finishing the book a few days ago, this thought-provoking book is still running laps around my brain, making it a book I’ll be recommending to everyone!

Robyn Claridge

This unsettling book digs into society's fixation on true crime through a fictional lens. 

Penance, presented as investigative journalism, recounts a gruesome murder in a northern seaside town during the Brexit vote. The novel's social and political context provides rich commentary, examining the decay of such towns and the impact of political and class divides. 

It also examines the dark side of society’s true-crime obsession, particularly internet fandom culture, portraying the darkness of 2010s Tumblr with chilling yet laugh-worthy accuracy. 

Eliza's authentic depiction of internet culture definitely provokes reflection on my own engagement with true crime. After finishing the book a few days ago, this thought-provoking book is still running laps around my brain, making it a book I’ll be recommending to everyone!

Penance

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