Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

376 reviews

megmax's review

challenging dark funny fast-paced

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

4.5

this was so fucked up but i couldn’t stop reading it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Self harm, Drug use, and Drug abuse

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

tayo2000's review

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this. 

Boy Parts is a thoroughly engrossing (and gruesome? Brutal? Unhinged??) exploration of gender and sexuality. The power of men over women looked at through the lens of a female protagonist (antagonist?) flipping the narrative on its head. I think I will certainly need some more time to fully digest this and sort my thoughts. Rest assured though this is a five star read. 

Irina is also a sociopath, but that’s a conversation for another time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Self harm, Sexual content, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse

eirasenior's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Rape, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Body horror, Drug use, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

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

01ivia's review

dark funny tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Gore, Drug abuse, and Rape

swagboat69's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Murder, Rape, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Violence

janainthebooks's review

challenging dark funny fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Torture, Cursing, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder and Alcohol

documentno_is's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

I went into Boy Parts largely blind and was better for it, the shock factor and depravity of the slow unveiling of the nature of our protagonist was more impactful than had I known what to expect. I hated every moment of being in this character's head and yet grapple with

the ways in which she can be both predator and victim.  Our main character is a master of manipulation and drowning in her own narcissism yet we see the multitude of ways she is failed by those around her, fueling her perversions.

In many ways reading this novel felt unbearable, both in the situations conjured up and the thought processes we are made privy to. This book felt cutting and revolting in the same ways

Lolita does

. My only complaint was the plot post London visit, for as shocking and fast paced as it was for the first 4/5ths of the story it puttered out

rather ungracefully to an unsatisfying ending of repetitions as is common of unveiling your central underlying "secret" too early on. We are left in liminal space of not knowing how much of our character's recollection is psychosis and how much is sociopathy, undoing much of the suspense of earlier on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Drug use, Death, Biphobia, Sexual violence, Blood, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Alcoholism, Vomit, Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Classism, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Self harm, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Alcohol, and Abandonment

mcrespo's review against another edition

dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

so irina female raged too close to the sun, and ended up being a

  rapist/murderer

, and unfortunately, no matter how funny she is and how much i relate to her proclivity for pretty men she can boss around, i cannot “support women's rights and wrongs" into liking irina, but she is such a well written character. clark knows how to write a complex female character, and i'm a sucker for an unreliable narrator. clark is funny and witty throughout this novel, however, this book won't be fun unless you are very mindful of the trigger warnings, so keep it cute and check those before you read. this novel also can be definitely insufferable if you can’t get past irina's white woman bullshit loaded with manipulation and forced tears. she's not a likable character, but she sure does go through a lot of the worst parts of the girl experience, and clark does an incredible job touching on important topics such as relationships of abuse, power dynamics differences amongst the sexes, and how social structures shape every aspect of human life down to sexual desire. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Rape, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Pedophilia, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal cruelty