Boy Parts: A Novel

by Eliza Clark

Overview

One of Granta's Best Young British Novelists 2023 

An incendiary debut novel from a brash new talent—a pitch-black comedy, both shocking and hilarious, which fearlessly explores sexuality and gender roles in the twenty-first century.

 “Hallucinogenic, electric and sharp, Boy Parts is a whirlwind exploration of gender, class, and power.”—Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater

Exiled from the art world and on sabbatical from her dead-end bar job, Irina obsessively takes explicit photographs of the average-looking men she persuades to model for her, scouted from the streets of Newcastle.

But her talent has not gone unnoticed, and Irina is invited to display her work at a fashionable London gallery. It is a chance to revive her career and escape from the rut of drugs, alcohol, and extreme cinema she’s fallen into. Yet the news instead triggers a self-destructive tailspin, centered around Irina’s consuming relationship with her best friend, and a shy young man from her local supermarket who has attracted her attention. . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063328921
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/23/2023
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	12,531
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Eliza Clark is the author of Boy Parts and Penance. Boy Parts was Blackwell's 2020 Fiction Book of the Year and was later adapted for the stage. In 2022, Eliza was chosen as a finalist for the Women’s Prize Futures Award for writers under thirty-five and in 2023, was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. She also writes for film and television. She lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

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

"It’s delightfully and deviously rooted in the now with its delectable internet and culture references and evocative and real-feeling portrait of women." — Dazed Digital

"A funny and intensely readable spiral staircase down into the mind of a woman who wears a waist trainer under her clothes and who may or may not be a keen purveyor of ultra-violence." — Vice

"Explores the darkest corners of artistic practice, sexuality and violence with bold wit and fearlessness. A dazzling, horrifying debut." — Irish Times

"[Clark's] writing embraces the socially unacceptable, and wryly explores themes of gender, power and violence." — Granta Best of Young British Novelists 2023

"Boy Parts is a carnival funhouse ride–terrifying, feverish, hilarious. Clark has created a wholly original monster and a sickeningly compulsive novel. I absolutely inhaled this book." — Julia Armfield, author of Salt Slow

"A mischievous satire narrated by a predatory photographer whose images of her male victims are hailed at a hip London gallery as edgy roleplay." — The Observer

"Hallucinogenic, electric and sharp, Boy Parts is a whirlwind exploration of gender, class and power. In funny, acerbic prose, Clark shows us how it feels to inhabit a body that moves through a world full of eyes. She illuminates the cracks that begin to appear when the subject turns voyeur and the violence inherent in the shatter." — Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater

"Smart, stylish and very funny, Boy Parts is a gripping and unflinching exploration of female desire, narcissism, sexuality and rage. You won't want to put it down." — Lara Williams, author of Supper Club

“The main protagonist will prove to be one of the most alluring, infuriating, and complex characters in modern British literature.” — Niall Griffiths

"Eliza Clark is unflinching in this witty and shocking excavation of female rage and desire, and is sure to gain a cultish following. It is unlike anything I’ve read before, and it left me utterly invigorated and repulsed." — Elizabeth MacNeal, author of The Doll Factory

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

"Even at its most transgressive, it all feels effortless. Dark, funny, bold, it’s an exceptional debut." — The Skinny

"An impressive, fiercely current debut . . . delightful and addictive." — i News

From the Publisher