Being a 40-something-year-old I might, as you say, not be the "target audience" of this kind of story, plus I have never really been interested in the true-crime genre (was even really aware that this is such a big thing)... BUT I find it quite interesting to see how our perception differs here: While the depiction of the fictional town and its history, is in fact really fascinating and very well done, interestingly, those sections in the novel were just the ones I found a bit too long and ultimately not as gripping as all the other elements, all those interviews, talks, narrations, faux-documentary bits and pieces and obviously fictional re-tellings within the faux-true crime book. I found it interesting to hear you say that you could relate to the inventive seaside town history, for the very reason that you grew up in a similar place like that(?). So maybe I experienced the girls not as much as stereotypes for the very reason that I have a daughter of the same age the girls are going through in the book - and got to hear about quite a few very similar dynamics between girl friendships (or competitive relationships, for that matter) over the past few years first hand...? So I didn't think those in the book were never boring or uninspired at all. But maybe that's because the fictional writer is a middle-aged man, too..? Generally, though, I have to say that most of the time I am much more interested in stories (films or books) about female protagonists than male ones. Interestingly, quite a lot of male characters in books and films I tend to find somewhat boring. Best wishes from Germany. PS: I really like the book a lot. Mainly for the inventiveness and the incredible strength of dialogue and the huge variety of characters Eliza Clark has come up with and made them alive for me. It's rarely the case that I am so impressed by the many different believable characters in a book or a film. And I like the huge amount of layers her book impressed me with. I don't often like reading books that long.
I feel the same as you do about Penance and am only a third of the way through it. The similarities to the incredibly sad Suzanne Capper murder and the revelations about Vance Diamond took me out of the story which hasn't helped. I've commented on another video that I might be coming at this all wrong and am probably missing something so I'm going to take a break and start again in the near future because I really do want to read it.
Wait a second are you telling me Roro is short for Andrew and not a nickname for Rory?!?! My mind is blown. I enjoyed this one a lot, and from the thumbnail thought you were going to dislike this, but this is a fair review. I didn't really mind (or to be honest overly notice) the stereotyping in the characters. I guess for me that's kind of part of the allure: describing how people who might otherwise seem pretty normal can end up doing unspeakable things. And I felt like my perception changed quite a lot over the course of the book: I had an idea of Annabel (may be misremembering that name!) during her section, and then it completely changed when I read the next section, and she became a lot more of a tragic character. What didn't work for me was that it didn't do enough with the unreliable narration. I wanted more subtext, more meta-commentary. But it was just a very good dupe of an actual true crime story. Great review as always!
Sorry to hear you didn't like this, but I do get it. I actually loved this book so much, but in a very strange way. It feels almost icky to say I liked this, but I just thought it was so well executed. Maybe it's because I was a typical teenage girl growing up in the throws of that era of unchecked Tumblr, but I felt that it was so accurate it stunned me. I felt that they were so real it was shocking. But ya, overall it is a strange sort of book, and I get not loving it
I read her Boy Parts and hated it. Exactly the same reason you disliked this book-the characters are caricature. I hated more because the premise is good, it’s interesting. But the execution is flat. It’s alao too on the nose with its message. There’s no subtlety, no craft. And after hearing this review I’ll probably not read this author again soon.
Thanks so much for the review. I'm not going to read this since we have so much true crime on the news. This type of story frightens me. I would call my daughter and say be careful, watch your friends, and she would say, mom please stop watching 48 hours (crime show in the US) and if anything I can take each of my friends.
I just finished listening to the book on audio and also had a rather mixed experience. To one of your points, the stereotypical portrayal of the girls was perhaps even more grating when hearing their endless catty, dramatic, and predictable voices. At times, it was downright painful! BUT... I absolutely loved the way the book forced me to think about what is true in "true crime" and what is manufactured for mass appeal. We, as humans, are all addicted to stories (a beautiful thing!), but what is the cost of people clamoring for (and receiving) certain kinds of stories, stories that can hurt real people and the very readers who crave them (due to desensitization, for example). Full disclosures: I'm a psychologist! Why does believing something is true pull in a certain kind of reader? And what does an inundation of true crime do to our understanding of humanity? Young girl's today, for example, are often walking around in a state of constant fear that they will be attacked, kidnapped, assaulted, etc. despite crime rates going down. In part, this is due to the unprecedented access to true stories that, incidentally, are consumed by far more women than men. Any thoughts on why that might be? I'll stop... I could go on forever!
Being a 40-something-year-old I might, as you say, not be the "target audience" of this kind of story, plus I have never really been interested in the true-crime genre (was even really aware that this is such a big thing)... BUT I find it quite interesting to see how our perception differs here: While the depiction of the fictional town and its history, is in fact really fascinating and very well done, interestingly, those sections in the novel were just the ones I found a bit too long and ultimately not as gripping as all the other elements, all those interviews, talks, narrations, faux-documentary bits and pieces and obviously fictional re-tellings within the faux-true crime book.
I found it interesting to hear you say that you could relate to the inventive seaside town history, for the very reason that you grew up in a similar place like that(?). So maybe I experienced the girls not as much as stereotypes for the very reason that I have a daughter of the same age the girls are going through in the book - and got to hear about quite a few very similar dynamics between girl friendships (or competitive relationships, for that matter) over the past few years first hand...? So I didn't think those in the book were never boring or uninspired at all. But maybe that's because the fictional writer is a middle-aged man, too..? Generally, though, I have to say that most of the time I am much more interested in stories (films or books) about female protagonists than male ones. Interestingly, quite a lot of male characters in books and films I tend to find somewhat boring.
Best wishes from Germany.
PS: I really like the book a lot. Mainly for the inventiveness and the incredible strength of dialogue and the huge variety of characters Eliza Clark has come up with and made them alive for me. It's rarely the case that I am so impressed by the many different believable characters in a book or a film. And I like the huge amount of layers her book impressed me with. I don't often like reading books that long.
I feel the same as you do about Penance and am only a third of the way through it. The similarities to the incredibly sad Suzanne Capper murder and the revelations about Vance Diamond took me out of the story which hasn't helped. I've commented on another video that I might be coming at this all wrong and am probably missing something so I'm going to take a break and start again in the near future because I really do want to read it.
Wait a second are you telling me Roro is short for Andrew and not a nickname for Rory?!?! My mind is blown.
I enjoyed this one a lot, and from the thumbnail thought you were going to dislike this, but this is a fair review. I didn't really mind (or to be honest overly notice) the stereotyping in the characters. I guess for me that's kind of part of the allure: describing how people who might otherwise seem pretty normal can end up doing unspeakable things. And I felt like my perception changed quite a lot over the course of the book: I had an idea of Annabel (may be misremembering that name!) during her section, and then it completely changed when I read the next section, and she became a lot more of a tragic character.
What didn't work for me was that it didn't do enough with the unreliable narration. I wanted more subtext, more meta-commentary. But it was just a very good dupe of an actual true crime story.
Great review as always!
Sorry to hear you didn't like this, but I do get it. I actually loved this book so much, but in a very strange way. It feels almost icky to say I liked this, but I just thought it was so well executed. Maybe it's because I was a typical teenage girl growing up in the throws of that era of unchecked Tumblr, but I felt that it was so accurate it stunned me. I felt that they were so real it was shocking. But ya, overall it is a strange sort of book, and I get not loving it
I read her Boy Parts and hated it. Exactly the same reason you disliked this book-the characters are caricature. I hated more because the premise is good, it’s interesting. But the execution is flat. It’s alao too on the nose with its message. There’s no subtlety, no craft. And after hearing this review I’ll probably not read this author again soon.
Thanks so much for the review. I'm not going to read this since we have so much true crime on the news. This type of story frightens me. I would call my daughter and say be careful, watch your friends, and she would say, mom please stop watching 48 hours (crime show in the US) and if anything I can take each of my friends.
I just finished listening to the book on audio and also had a rather mixed experience. To one of your points, the stereotypical portrayal of the girls was perhaps even more grating when hearing their endless catty, dramatic, and predictable voices. At times, it was downright painful!
BUT... I absolutely loved the way the book forced me to think about what is true in "true crime" and what is manufactured for mass appeal. We, as humans, are all addicted to stories (a beautiful thing!), but what is the cost of people clamoring for (and receiving) certain kinds of stories, stories that can hurt real people and the very readers who crave them (due to desensitization, for example). Full disclosures: I'm a psychologist! Why does believing something is true pull in a certain kind of reader? And what does an inundation of true crime do to our understanding of humanity? Young girl's today, for example, are often walking around in a state of constant fear that they will be attacked, kidnapped, assaulted, etc. despite crime rates going down. In part, this is due to the unprecedented access to true stories that, incidentally, are consumed by far more women than men. Any thoughts on why that might be?
I'll stop... I could go on forever!
Love hearing your thoughts. Thats interesting on why the appeal leans more towards women than men. I have no answers but I’ll have think.