![]() If you liked I May Destroy You, you’ll like this. It asks some very provoking questions, and Irina is excellent company. I implore any young person with the stomach for it to read this book. The novel twists the roles of ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’ over and over again, forcing you to reconsider scenarios multiple times. ‘ I wonder what the fuck I have to do for people to recognise me as a threat, you know?’ p. It’s especially thought provoking when these men are simply unable to view themselves as victims, or to see that they are in any form of danger. Eliza Clark isn’t frightened to place some of her male characters in situations that, were they women, would be deeply frightening. But I will mention how cleverly this book deals with ideas of gender and consent. She isn’t doing what I think she is…is she? Recently, just as her new book, Penance, was about to be published, Clark. An agent, and book deals with Faber and Harper Collins, followed. When it was published by the indie press Influx, in 2020, the novel became a word-of-mouth sensation. The reader is at once inside Irina’s mind, where her twisted logic of friendship and consent prevails, and an outsider, piecing her story together with one hand over their eyes. It was dark, funny and asked uncomfortable questions about our tendency to equate beauty with morality. I can see why this would grate on some people, but you have to acknowledge that it’s refreshing to see this level of sharp self-awareness in an author. This is a white-as-fuck club and like…I know I’m white, but there’s just a lot of white people White People-ing in a very small area, like it’s just some very, very densely packed mayo, you know?’ p. ‘I watch the young white people dance badly to the bloated old racist’s music while I wait to get served. The story is peppered with quick remarks about contemporary culture that made me stop and think. Reading the entire story in her voice is like watching a horror film : it’s truly awful, but you can’t bear to look away.Įliza Clark is observant. We learn about her present and her past at once, as she talks us through a box of her old artwork in some of the chapters to unveil what made her this way. She is witty, bitter and thoroughly fascinating to delve into. She hasn’t got many friends, is clearly struggling with some sort of eating disorder, and is the most horrific woman I have ever had the pleasure of encountering. ![]() She recruits them in the street and poses them oddly, and throughout the duration of the story Irina’s photographs get weirder and weirder, stranger and more disturbing. As I went on to tell my sister and most of my friends, Boy Parts is about a girl who takes photos of boys.
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