A six-foot redhead with a killer hourglass body, Irina knows the power of her sexual appeal and wields it mercilessly against everyone – from her best friend (and erstwhile lover) Flo to sweet, shy Eddie, a Tesco checkout boy she persuades to model for her. Such as the unhoused boy who possibly meets a bad end who should “feel thankful” for a place to stay and a starring role in her art. But then we are meant to believe that she was in fact traumatized by this so much so that now she herself is subjecting others to the type of trauma she was victim to. friend and former lover that she keeps around to take care of her (okay, I sort of loved Flo, she really meant well and I felt bad for her). this is definitely the feeling you’re left with once you reach the rather hallucinogenic end of this book, but the wild ride to get there is pretty fun.

Originally from Newcastle and now living in London, Eliza Clark is the author of Boy Parts and Penance. Yet, we also get so many instances that go against what this kind of characterization is trying to establish. The writing is sharp and so is the social commentary and I will definitely read anything Eliza Clark puts out next. Irina, a beautiful twentysomething, picks up mediocre-looking men in places such as Tesco and photographs them in compromising positions. There was something profoundly simplistic about the way these themes are explored and the narrator is one of the dullest galls I have ever had the misfortune to read about.Clark’s short horror fiction has been published with Tales to Terrify, with an upcoming novelette from Gehenna and Hinnom expected this year. The trigger warnings on this would be a mile long and this isn't for the faint of heart, but it is a wickedly well done ride. Which sounds all right, until you start to see the woman behind the art: is she making a statement or does she just enjoy hurting people? She obsessively takes explicit photographs of average-looking men she scouts from the streets of Newcastle while her dead-end bar job slips away; she's more interested in drugs, alcohol, and extreme cinema. Home to William Golding, Sylvia Plath, Kazuo Ishiguro, Sally Rooney, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Max Porter, Ingrid Persaud, Anna Burns and Rachel Cusk, among many others, Faber is proud to publish some of the greatest novelists from the early twentieth century to today.

There is a storyline involving, you guessed it, ‘boy parts’ that was just a rip off from American Psycho (in that we are meant to question the veracity of irina’s recollection of these violent events). Previously her response to being SA at the party was to be annoyed that that non-entity guy had the gall to try to r*pe her. i felt bad for flo, she was the collateral damage in all of irina's outbursts, and just in a roundabout friendship with her.I found the logic at play in the narrative to be highly sus: Irina experiences misogyny and is objectified by the male gaze; Irina perpetuates misogyny + misandry and objectifies men, her models in particular. The ‘hook’, that of a ‘pervy’ female photographer, had potential for the first 30% of the narrative.

Celebrate Northern literary talent, pick up this book, and let the kaleidoscopic vortex sweep you away. I also didn't really like the dialogue which I thought was formatted a little weird and maybe could have been a little more realistic? irina as an unreliable narrator works really well, and i think that books with unreliable narrators always leave a lasting impression; you’re left wondering if any of what you just read actually happened, if the character you’ve been following in your head is really just a lie. the homoerotic over-current of the lyrics while we're both sat in the living room in our bras and curlers is just. Boy Parts follows the exploits of Irina Sturges, an acerbic Geordie fetish photographer who specialises in shooting 'interesting'-looking men.Here we have Irina, a tall, intimidating redhead criticized by her professor, lesbian art icon and former lover, Frank, for having ‘ had a contemptuous attitude towards my models. But the news triggers a self-destructive tailspin, drawing in her obsessive best friend and a shy young man from her local supermarket who has attracted her attention . However, the way the narrative meanders about without any real direction or without the kind of piercing commentary that makes up for vacuous storylines…I am left wondering why, why, why did we get this scene? Boy Parts is the incendiary debut novel from Eliza Clark, a pitch-black comedy both shocking and hilarious, fearlessly exploring the taboos of sexuality and gender roles in the twenty-first century. please do not confuse my negative review of this book as a personal attack on the author or as an estimation of the author herself as i do not know her in any capacity whatsoever.

We get to read as she goes through these strange and obsessive behaviors and falls into this downward spiral into madness. The American Psycho comparison is apt in many ways, one being that Irina can get off scot-free because she’s hot.The reason why I did not like this book has less to do with her being an unlikable c*nt and more to do with her being boring as f*ck. This shakes you around like a rag doll and you love it as you begin to see Boy Parts as your dominant partner and while you are going to get pleasure you are also going to get pain. all three books have similarly strong existentialist overtones (irina: "i explain to him that nothing matters, and nothing lasts.