Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

56 reviews

unhingedreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My current favourite book, I have recommended it to too many people to count. I have listed some trigger warnings attached to this review and this book will certainly not be for everyone. I would recommend the audiobook version as the author narrates it and it really adds to the experience.

This book is a very visceral read, without giving too much away it has an unreliable narrator and many twists and turns. 

Irina is the kind of friend that you warn people about, she is manipulative and gaslights those around her. Somewhat similar to a car crash scene that you know you shouldn’t look at, but can’t quite look away from. She has some interesting pastimes including drug and alcohol abuse, which she seems to utilise as a crutch to escape her current reality of the under appreciated artist. Apart from her bar job her main career focus is photographing generic looking men that she scouts on the streets of Newcastle. Her photography specialises on fetish art and the book follows her attempting to revive her career whilst being entirely horrible to anyone in her vicinity.

There’s many reasons I enjoyed this book, it sticks with you. Irina’s perspective will have you want to laugh at her dark wit and recoil at her true desires.

I have had the pleasure of meeting the author Eliza Clark who is a very down to earth person that writes some pretty messed up books. I would look into some of her interviews because I really think it adds to the overall narrative of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Murder, Body horror, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Bullying, Alcohol, Body shaming, Classism, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content

houseofjules's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I liked this book, it made me realize that I find stories about fucked up women fascinating. 

It also made me realize that this is what My Year of Rest and Relaxation wants to be and falls drastically short. I have also seen this compared to American Psycho but for girls. And you know what, I liked that story as well (I've only watched it, not read it). 

I think this says something bad about me, just not sure what. But I think this is a successful story because of the commentary rather than the behavior displayed by the MC. I mean, girlfriend needs therapy BAD. But her support system failed her from the beginning, starting with her relationship with her mother and the things she goes on to experience in her early years.

 This is pretty privilege at play as well, which allows her to get away with lots of things. In fact its the main question she tried to find an answer to. This book feel like running your tongue over a recently extracted tooth. Painful, horrifying even, but hard to stop exploring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Bullying, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Body shaming, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Self harm, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

kates_cupcakes's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Feels like a fever dream, you experience the hallucinations as she does and because she’s unreliable you don’t trust her. Heavy drug use and alcohol fuel the plot and it keeps the pages turnings at almost a dizzying speed. This book makes you feel lost in time, almost as if the world stops

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Cursing, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Violence, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual assault and Vomit

Minor: Animal death, Self harm, and Animal cruelty

editorgrrl's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Irina (or did her mam name her “Irene”?) is a painfully thin female bisexual Patrick Bateman (complete with business cards and cleaning products) from Northern England.

An unreliable narrator, she drops names, watches ultra violent films, and wishes she were a stone cold bitch rather than a plumber’s daughter who’s only working part time at a seedy bar so that her mam will continue to pay half her rent.

If you hate unlikable characters, this is not the book for you. I found it darkly humorous, and a little sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, and Self harm

Minor: Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal cruelty

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

dark emotional funny relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Took off 0.25 cus she killed the kitty

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Self harm, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Homophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Ableism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Grief, Rape, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

beerxper's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug use, Fatphobia, Body horror, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Self harm, Gore, Eating disorder, Animal death, Blood, and Gaslighting

gewrgia_lightwood's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This had a very slow start for me 
Yes I read it fairly quickly but idk what kept me coming back 

Irina was one of the most insufferable characters I’ve ever read. I know that’s the point but maybe I’m not that keen on reading unlikable characters. I was genuine annoyed (but that also works as a compliment for the story). 

My biggest issue was this whole “woke” agenda the book tried to radiate. She was thought of as a feminism yet never show anything close to solidarity among women. Also her discomfort in being called working class once, really shows her political agenda. Even her work in the sexualisation of men as a critic in the sexualisation of women felt very “white” feminism to me. 

Lastly her ED never being called out almost made it feel like it was romanticised (along with drugs). 

By the halfway point it started to pick up and by the end it was quite interesting this whole distortion of reality ngl. But at the end of the day it’s hard for me to really enjoy books I’m not attached to its characters. 

The writing was meh at its best 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Vomit, and Addiction

Moderate: Blood, Death, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Body shaming, Rape, Murder, Animal death, Bullying, and Self harm

Minor: Abortion and Classism

char_a_lot_te's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What the actual fuck.

Scalding commentary on the role of art in our society and the current state of the patriarchy. Absolutely repulsive, don't read it unless you're mentally stable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Murder, Rape, Torture, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Body horror, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Infidelity

pingi444's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Sexism, Murder, Rape, Drug use, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Torture, Sexual content, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

_cheshirecxt's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I had a terrible time reading this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Rape, Fatphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Body shaming, Addiction, Bullying, Eating disorder, Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Self harm, and Drug abuse

Minor: Cancer