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Boy Parts

Eliza Clark

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A GRANTA BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELIST 2023.

“Hallucinogenic, electric and sharp.” — JESSICA ANDREWS

“Will make most readers howl with laughter and/or shut their eyes in horror.” — GUARDIAN

Pre-order Eliza Clark's next novel, Penance, now.

Irina is in a rut. 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. When she's offered an exhibition at a fashionable London gallery which promises to revive her career in the art world, it should feel like an escape. 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 . . ..

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.

“Smart, stylish, and very funny.” — LARA WILLIAMS

“Boundaries are for breaking and if anyone can crash through and reinterpret the fear of our time, Eliza Clark can.” — MSLEXIA

“A carnival funhouse ride: terrifying, feverish, hilarious.” — JULIA ARMFIELD

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

“A dark, funny, nasty book. Brilliantly written, annoyingly good.” — 5* reader review

“I am obsessed.” — 5* reader review

“Both shocking and darkly funny, this razor-sharp debut is unlike anything I've read before.” — 5* reader review

“I loved this, properly loved it!!” — 5* reader review

“Left me both in awe and totally disturbed. Wow.” — 5* reader review

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Posts about this title from Read Rant Review

Read Rant Review\ \ Kaylee\ \ • Oct 5 2025

[Over the summer, I kept getting posts popping up on my feed talking about "weird girl lit". Books like Bunny by Mona Awad, Boy Parts by Eliza Clark, Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, etc.\ \ Big Swiss by Jen Beagin was also a common occurrence on these lists and caught my attention, marking my first step into the world of weird girl lit. So let's talk about it. I'll give you a quick spoiler-free recap of what the book is about, and talk about my feelings at the end.\ \

Instead, Greta quit therapy. Then she quit her job, ended her relationship, moved across the country, and switched careers.\ \ Greta is a 45-year-old woman who has just come out of a long-term, unfulfilling relationship and is starting life fresh across the country.\ \ Everyone behaved as if they’d been banished from their native country, or had simply withdrawn allegiance, or were on the lam, and now that they were all living abroad, they bonded with people they never would’ve ended up with back home.\ \ She moves to a small, weird town, and is working as a transcriptionist for the local therapist. While doing this, she becomes obsessed with a 25-year-old client whom she has nicknamed "Big Swiss."\ \ Big Swiss: Do you think I could get a copy of this transcript at some point?\ \ Therapist: Sure, of course.\ \ Big Swiss: I had a transcript of my grand jury testimony, but it was destroyed in a flood.\ \ Therapist: Was it something you looked at often?\ \ Big Swiss: Never. But I liked having it in a drawer.\ \ Big Swiss is in therapy after a traumatuc event. The above quote occurs after she finally talks about it in a session. There were a few quotes throughout the book that really stuck with me, and this conversation was one of them. She also talks pretty extensively about not letting her trauma define her and not wanting to use it as a reason for her doing anything. I found it deeply, deeply relatable and this idea in particular made me take pause. As much as you want to move on, there is something important about having 'proof' of it happening. I don't think I can really explain the feeling beyond that. If you know, you know - I guess?\ \ "I miss you. Grievously."\ \ I won't provide any context for this, but the word grievously has become my new favorite adverb.\ \\\_______\ \ Anyway. All in all. Was this book weird? HELL YES. There were a lot of insane descriptions, jump scare esque trauma dumping, and half the time I couldn't tell if we were speaking literally or metaphorically. I have no idea what happened in this book and this book has the definition of an unreliable narrator. It was often times gross yet intriguing. It also gave very ugly truths in such plain language that it felt like a slap to the face.\ \ Check the trigger warnings before reading! I'd recommend it if you're wanting a unique reading experience that explores the lasting impacts of trauma and how people cope.\ \ Do you have weird girl lit that you recommend? I tagged the other books that are on my TBR for this series. Let me know your thoughts!](https://readrantreview.binderybooks.com/item/GhES5TNSc3WS4OmkEeh3/)

Weird Girl Lit Chronicles: Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

4 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Two Stories Bookshop\ \ Queer-Owned Shelves🌈\ \ • Apr 25

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[It's Independent Bookstore Day and I know I'm late on getting this post out, but that's because I did a crawl to ten bookstores today with my friends! \ \ If you don't have a local store, please consider making us your home store on Bookshop.org and Libro.fm! \ \ Here are some books we recommend for today!\ \ Ryn:\ \

Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe (Out October 20, 2026)\ \
Seek the Traitor's Son by Veronica Roth (Out May 12, 2026)\ \
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (yes, we adore Star Wars in this house)\ \
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White\ \ \ Tori:\ \
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper\ \
Boy Parts by Eliza Clark\ \
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (this is Tori's favorite book of all time)](https://twostoriesbookshop.binderybooks.com/item/ypN5YJtIDHGVAhRcWsqw/)

Happy Indie Bookstore Day!

7 books

2-Spirit Bookshelf\ \ (@Indigenousbookshelf)\ \ • Mar 15

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\ \ For the lovers of “Unhinged” books except I’m tired of seeing that word used so much recently on bookstagram so I’m just gonna go with WTF instead\ \ Some of my recent reads. These are not Indigenous, but explore other areas of marginalized identities such as disability, trauma, mental illness, gender, sexuality, class, etc.\ \ Also sorry I’ve been so absent, I’m really struggling with my health!!!! :(\ \ but I will try to commit to more regular posts!](https://2spiritbookshelf.binderybooks.com/item/BRgcaFRORytMDYyjeMNz/)

WTF BOOKS????👀

3 books

Read Rant Review\ \ Kaylee\ \ • Oct 5 2025

Weird Girl Lit Chronicles: Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

4 books

Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • Aug 5 2025

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Books that scream Leo energy! \ \ The Characteristics of a Leo:\ \ Leos are fierce and have such incredible energy that you will always have a good time around them. They can be a bit stubborn and direct but have the biggest heart out of all the signs with a great sense of humor. \ \ The Books\ \ Make Me Famous by Maud Ventura: a woman will do whatever it takes to become famous and ends up making it and finds herself on a secluded island recounting her climb to the top.\ \ Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid: Emira is a young black woman who babysits for a white family. She and the little girl are in a supermarket and she gets accused of kidnapping. \ \ What Lies In The Woods by Kate Alice Marshall: 3 children are playing in the woods when one of them is brutally attacked. They believe they've put the right man behind bars. 22 years later 2 of the girls believe they put the wrong person in jail.\ \ You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard: 2 best friends who love conning men, may have met their match.\ \ Retreat by Krysten Ritter: Liz goes to Mexico to deliver a painting for a wealthy couple, she's only supposed to stay for a week but realizes she looks similar to the woman in this couple and decides to try on her life for a bit. This could have dangerous consequences.\ \ Maeve Fly by CJ Leede: A homicidal disney princess begins to really lose it.\ \ Boy Parts by Eliza Clark: A photographer, Irina loves taking provocative photos of young men and she's really beginning to spiral.\ \ Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Set in Mexico City with different vampire species, we follow a lone vampire named Atl who everyone is on the hunt for.\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login

HAPPY LEO SEASON, EARTHLINGS

8 books

Sunny's Book Truck\ \ CJ\ \ • Jul 29 2025

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[Hi nerds \ \ Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you may have seen the New York Times latest interactive piece compiling the Top 100 Book of the 21st Century. I, along with some of my bookish peers, immediately noticed a few authors who were snubbed, so I got to work on compiling my personal top 100.\ \ I gave myself a few restrictions, so the below list is made up of only women and queer authors. Translated works post 2001 count, but I also let a few books in that were repackaged recently (re: McNally Editions) that I would argue truly found their readership for the first time in the past 20 years, despite their earlier pub dates. I also limited myself to just one title per author, which was probably the hardest part of this list making.\ \ I also want to note that this isn’t necessarily my favorite top 100 books, nor what I am deeming the ~~greatest~~. Some I’ve included simply for the cultural phenomenons they’ve become in my realm of the bookish internet.\ \ Finally, I am not a genre or poetry reader unfortunately, so this list leans literary and is restricted to titles I’ve already read. All books have been compiled on Bookshop.org here if you’d like to purchase any of them. The below list is not ranked, I’m not doing that to myself! I’d love to see your own if you make one. Let me know what you think I left off in the comments, I’m ready to fight.\ \ The Top 100 \ \

Just Kids: the only romanticizing of 1970’s New York I can stand for.\ \
Boy Parts: finally an American Psycho but for the girlie pops.\ \
Dancing On My Own: a brand new essay collection I think everyone should read.\ \
Hunger: my introduction to fat phobia and diet culture.\ \
Commonwealth: this wouldn’t be a list by me without an Ann Patchett.\ \
A Room Called Earth: neurodivergent rep at it’s finest.\ \
The Night Circus: my carney ass loves this fantasy novel.\ \
The New Me: satirical workplace culture, classic “women vs. the void”.\ \
The Idiot: a perfect campus novel.\ \
A Field Guide to Getting Lost: this broke my brain in college.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
Dept. of Speculation: vignette perfection!!!!\ \
Circe: greek myths and witches for grown ups.\ \
Little Weirds: a tender and perfect essay collection.\ \
Assembly: a perfect execution of restraint.\ \
Calypso: again, this wouldn’t be a list by me without Sedaris. I love him.\ \
White Teeth: what can be said about Zadie Smith that hasn’t already been said?\ \
The Doloriad: literally the most evil book I’ve read to date.\ \
Nevada: trans roadtrip narrative, a queer cornerstone.\ \
Birnam Wood: a perfect sprawling character driven thriller.\ \
Beautyland: the most earnest novel on this list.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
No One Is Talk About This: perhaps the great Twitter novel?\ \
Sisters: a modern gothic ghost story.\ \
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl: queer smut!!!\ \
Detransition, Baby: queer questioning of what it means to make a family.\ \
Infinite Country: border politics and big family dramas.\ \
Bunny: do we think this was the first TikTok book for lit fic? Horror lite.\ \
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead: misanthrope representation.\ \
Real Life: bad friends and bad sex in the Midwest!!!\ \
The Undocumented Americans: I loved this personal exploration of citizenship.\ \
Pond: one of a kind, shimmering.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
The Glass Castle: one of my favorite memoirs of all time.\ \
The Friend: dog freaks unite.\ \
Land of Milk and Honey: food writing!!!\ \
Martyr!: sad sack artist, diaspora, hidden identities.\ \
The Rabbit Hutch: Blandine is one of the most memorable narrators ever.\ \
White on White: an excellent art novel.\ \
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness: maybe my favorite desert novel?\ \
The Performance: climate change, a book in acts, I loved it.\ \
Lapvona: this is my favorite Moshfegh, fight me!\ \
The Life of the Mind: academia woes.\ \ \ \ \
The Wall: dystopian adventure novel excellence!\ \
Cold Enough for Snow: what claim do we have to know another's inner world?\ \
The English Understand Wool: I could have read 1000 pages more of this.\ \
Hurricane Season: one of kind, relentless, harrowing.\ \
A Little Life: some call it trauma porn, some call it the book of our generation.\ \
Girl, Woman, Other: a polyphonic modern classic.\ \
Convenience Store Woman: lonely and charming.\ \
Freshwater: a completely effective depiction of dysphoria.\ \
The Sluts: cursed!!!! I loved it.\ \
No One Belongs Here More Than You: this changed my teenage brain chemistry.\ \ \ \ \
I Hold a Wolf by the Ears: surreal, eerie, perfect.\ \
Luster: women on the verge, art, race, open marriages.\ \
Indelicacy: I loved this tiny novel. Labor, class, women.\ \
Pew: hysteria and mass psychosis build in this creepy little gothic story.\ \
Open Throat: we need to be reading more about gay mountain lions.\ \
Severance: our great apocalypse novel.\ \
Motherhood: Heti went inside of my brain to write this.\ \
Tonight I’m Someone Else: this book reminds me of a heatwave. Desire, youth!\ \
The Employees: an incredibly singular look at work and consumption.\ \
A Manual for Cleaning Women: this book smells like cigarettes and windex.\ \ \ \ \ \ \
The Body Is Not an Apology: an actually helpful guide to radical self-love.\ \
Pachinko: an intergenerational family epic.\ \
Burnt Sugar: THE mommy issues novel!\ \
The Year of Magical Thinking: loss and charting the unknown waters of grief.\ \
A Minor Chorus: queer Indigenous survival.\ \
Strangers to Ourselves: I really loved this deep dive into mental health.\ \
Second Place: my favorite Cusk. Art, marriage, family.\ \
The Copenhagen Trilogy: a masterful piece of confessional writing.\ \
Painting Time: for everyone with art school trauma.\ \
Mona: the third act of this short novel is incredible.\ \ \ \ \ \ \
Monstrilio: literary horror with a monster metaphor.\ \
In the Dream House: the most original memoir I’ve ever read.\ \
Hot Milk: rage, myth, modernity!\ \
Monarch: cryptic and weird, Jungian and eccentric.\ \
Death by Landscape: an incredible essay collection about the age of extinction.\ \
Vanishing Twins: marriage, queerness, LA.\ \
The Shame: internet obsession and envy.\ \
Braiding Sweetgrass: sacred Indigenous nature wisdom.\ \
Sarahland: maybe my favorite short story collection ever.\ \
The Pisces: classic Broder, still her most memorable to me.\ \ \ \ \ \ \
Bluets: there’s no one like Nelson, a genre busting legend.\ \
The Days of Abandonment: unhinged Ferrante is my favorite Ferrante.\ \
Boulder: motherhood, thankless identities, freedom.\ \
Emergent Strategy: society-help to craft the collective future we deserve.\ \
Paradise Rot: horror and wonder, hyper-sensual.\ \
Dogs of Summer: 90’s queer girlhood expertly depicted.\ \
The Book of Ayn: radical selfishness and ego-death in our modern age.\ \
Y/N: the extremities of fan culture, a lucid fever dream.\ \
Fake Accounts: a precise skewering of internet culture.\ \
Brutes: girlhood is horror!!!\ \ \ \ \
Tender is the Flesh: we love a cannibalism plot.\ \
Something New Under the Sun: a darkly satirical take on our ecological reality.\ \
Normal People: it was a cultural reset.\ \
The Hard Crowd: Kushner is one of my favorite thinkers, I love this collection.\ \
Hamnet: transportive, the only book that could get me to care about Shakespeare.\ \
Revenge of the Scapegoat: familial trauma, chronic illness, academic labor.\ \
The Goodby People: post-Manson, pre-Disney Los Angeles.\ \
The Seas: a perfect, sparkling coming of age novel.\ \
They: an uncanny depiction of artistic suppression and its consequences.\ \
The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish: sisters, abuse, mental illness.\ \ \ \ That's all for today! Love you, mean it!](https://sunnysbooktruck.binderybooks.com/item/JJficBy182vkmlZBITvZ/)