This one's a real stunner! Love true crime, Sylvia Plath, female friendship, and dismantling the patriarchy? Doll Parts is for you. This dual POV novel really shines in its character development. It's a love letter to female friendship and complicated women, including the aforementioned Plath. I was delighted to read it, and I look forward to seeing what Penny Zang writes next.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

Penny Zang masterfully alternates between past and present timelines, immersing you in Nikki’s obsessive investigation of the “Sylvia Club” and Sadie’s uneasy journey through grief, motherhood, and her friend’s haunting legacy.

Zang wrings so much tension from everyday moments—Sadie living in Nikki’s home, tracing old clues, and sometimes sensing Nikki’s ghostly presence. Themes of friendship, loyalty, and feminist anger intertwine with dark academia vibes and a creeping supernatural undertone.

A few sections—especially the college timeline—can feel slow at times. Still, the payoff is emotionally resonant, with a clever unraveling of the Sylvia Club mystery that makes everything click. It’s equal parts nostalgic and eerie, with poetic prose that makes grief feel tactile.

Doll Parts may not be for readers expecting high-speed thrillers, but for those who crave mood, character depth, and slow-burning chills—and who appreciate female friendships portrayed in all their messy complexity—it’s a haunting and unforgettable read.

A tragic and beautiful book about friendship, love, death, and grief. This tragic tale is told from two perspectives by two best friends. Nikki's sections are from the grunge and angst filled past, when her best friend Sadie and she are misfit freshman at a prestigious all girls college. Sadie's perspective is told eighteen years later surrounded by suburban yoga moms, after the death of her estranged best friend Nikki. Haunted by the death of Nikki, she learns that her death may not have been self-inflicted and may have ties to their big secret freshman year that lead to their estrangement. Borrowing much from Sylvia Plath, and her life, this book is thrilling, emotional, and touches on deep topics, such as reducing "tragic women" to their death, and not their personhood.

I was really intrigued by the blurb and loved the cover, but found the back-and-forth narration to be distracting rather than additive... I found Nikki's back-in-time chapters to really slow the pacing of the story; the contemporary storyline was much more compelling, but still not quite enough to sell me on this one.

Penny Zang's Doll Parts is an interesting, well-written whirlwind that, while teeming with great language and interesting characters, leaves a little more to be desired. The story hooks you, but ultimately fizzles near the later half of the novel.

I was drawn into this synopsis, intrigued by the dual timelines. What started out strong turned into a slow burn in both past and present and my initial intrigue waned over time, wanting more… faster. While this wasn’t for me, I’m eager to continue to support this debut author’s future work.

Love picking up debut novels! This one was told from dual timelines, which, to be honest, is not my favorite novel structure. And, in many ways that is the biggest critique I have for this novel. The switch between now and then slowed the pace and the storytelling was uneven (I felt the “current” timeline was the more compelling.

Nikki ends up dead and her former BFF Sadie seems to slip in Nikki's life after 20 years and discover that things are not as they seem and may be related to what caused their friendship to end 20 years later.

Let me start with the positives: this book was written beautifully. I think the prose was beautiful and artfully created, with lots of unique touches.

However, I do not think this is the genre that is for me. If you are into dark academia more than thrillers, I think this book would be right up your alley, but it personally does not appeal to me. In addition, I found the "now" chapters from Sadie's POV to be much more captivating than the "then" chapters from Nikki's POV and found they dragged slower and were much harder to read.

I totally understand why this book is rated so highly amongst other readers, but it just simply isn't the genre or book I was expecting. Ultimately, I would give it a 2.5/5 rounded up to a 3, as I totally understand why others would love this book.

This is such a haunting and lovely novel that will stay with me for a long time as It revolves around two friends in college: Sadie and Nikki. As it opens we meet Sadie who still mourns her friend, Nikki's death as she believes it has something to do with the "Sylvia Club" as one freshman girl has killed herself every year (based on Sylvia Plath's unfortunate suicide). But there are so many buried secrets and lies to uncover and they are leaked to us slowly as the novel is told in a "now" and "then" format. It's both chilling and lovely and whether you are a Plath fan or not, this book will haunt me in its beauty!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the opportunity to receive an ARC of Doll Parts!
This book was so beautifully written and presented. The story unravels in such an eerily suspenseful yet artful way. I loved the friendship story and nods to 90s alternative music. I kinda knew guessed how things would shake out so no huge reveals there but the biggest surprise was the heartfelt way Zang tied up the heartbreaking friendship at the end.

There is something nostalgic and emotional about this story. It’s categorized as a mystery thriller, so my opening sentence might seem odd. But if you read this book you will know what I mean. This story has so many important messages and themes: from girlhood and female friendship to romanticizing dead “sad girls. This book made my heart ache. If you’ve ever had a very close friendship that began in childhood and fell apart in adulthood, I think you will too. This story illustrates female friendship so well. It is the epitome of the statement “we were girls together.” Those formative years and the friendships made during them are so impactful. The author does a great job of demonstrating this throughout the story. I loved the mystery aspect of the story. I never once felt like I had it figured out. There were so many twists and turns. There are two timelines in the story and they work so well together. Sometimes dual timelines can be confusing but this was so well written. The writing was atmospheric. I very much felt like I was at college with the girls. It made me nostalgic and reminded me of my first few years at college. I really liked how everything tied together and was connected at the end. There’s a lot of talk and mentioning about Sylvia Plath in this story that I really appreciated. But there’s also a wonderful conversation about dead women and how we talk about their deaths and romanticize them. The story is a friendly reminder not to remember someone for their death/how they died but for the life that they lived.

4.5 stars 🌟

I liked this book, the writing itself was beautiful, but the pacing dragged a little… especially in Sadie’s current timeline. Most of Sadie’s chapters felt more like backstory than an actual plot. The same goes for Nikki’s past timeline… there was a lot of telling me who they were, but not really showing it. It felt like I was being handed information without a clear story to hold it all together. But it all was still entertaining and a great read.

Book review for Doll Parts

Two decades after college, Sadie becomes pregnant by her dead friend Nikki’s husband and moves into Nikki’s home, where she uncovers dark secrets about the mysterious Sylvia Club deaths.

This was one of the most unique and captivating books I read all year. The book's premise instantly hooked me, but the novel itself was even more gripping. So much so that I forced myself to stop reading halfway through, using it as motivation to finish another book I had on my docket so I could come back to this. I would categorize this book as a literary thriller, but it felt so much more complex than that.

This novel was so beautifully written, and I was truly captivated by its artistic and poetic prose. It had its hold on me from the first sentence, and it didn’t let go until the last. Zang writes in such an intimate way that you find yourself floating alongside the characters throughout the story, like a ghost, watching them get haunted. Zang’s pacing was perfect, and she created such unforgettable and eerie imagery that I was gripped the entire time.

I highlighted a quote from the first page, “What she liked most was autumn on campus, the vibration of cathedral bells, the smell of rotting leaf piles—everything made prettier as it died.” Zang highlights this dark and troubling obsession with death, especially suicide, throughout the book. I found it both unflinching and daring, paying homage to The Virgin Suicides and Sylvia Plath.

I was amazed at the way she balanced her lyrical prose with such a fascinating and fast-moving plot. Nothing was sacrificed. The story kept me guessing until Zang decided to lift the curtain and expose the truth, which is such a nod to her craft. I am astonished that this was a debut novel and look forward to reading what Zang produces in the future. This was so beautifully and flawlessly written that it’s the first novel I've read on my Kindle this year that I yearn for a physical copy.

This is easily one of my favorite books that I’ve read this year.

5/5

I really enjoyed reading this. It starts off a bit slow, but once it got going, I couldn’t put it down. It’s beautifully written and characters are complex and flawed. I did struggle with the relationship between Sadie and Harrison. The ending was satisfying, which is not always the case with novels in this genre. I loved the use of the setting throughout. I will be recommending this book to friends and my book club.

This was an ok read it is a bit slow to start but does pick up once you get into the chapters is it recommendable yes thank you for this read

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This was just okay for me. It was very atmospheric and heavy on words.

solid and nostalgically eerie mystery with some interesting vibes and setting discussion. would definitely recommend. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge fan of the dual timeline in this book! Absolutely fell in love with the characters and could relate to them in many ways myself. I loved Sadie and Nikki so much. This book has some juicy twists for sure. Loved the theme of female friendship in this as well as grief and what it makes us do. I found Sadie to be admirable in many ways but could also feel her struggles to my core. Beautiful book!

“If the college had failed those girls, the least we could do was make sure they weren’t forgotten.”

I *really* enjoyed this one. It’s long-ish at 400 pages, yet easily bingeable.

It has all the right pieces for a compelling, pulse-pounding coming-of-age story. Dark academia, teenage friendship, the perennial challenges of girlhood, grief, mysterious deaths to solve, etc. 🤌

It’s also super atmospheric—I felt like I was at Loch Raven with the girls. 👭

You’ll definitely need to suspend disbelief a tad, but who doesn’t love that once in a while?

Zang’s debut is so well done and I highly recommend you pre-order Doll Parts ahead of its August publication. 🔥

4 stars

This is a strong debut featuring one creepy tale told over the span of multiple timelines. Folks of a certain age will have very particular songs playing as they read, and they'll be able to welcome a knowning chuckle when they get to a recommend playlist of exactly those songs. This book? It's vibey.

In the contemporary timeline, Sadie is in a spot she never expected. Her former best friend, Nikki, who became a famous author and wife and mother after college, has died. Though the two have been estranged for a long time, they reconnect in a truly unusual way when Sadie finds herself pregnant....with Nikki's widower's baby. You read that right. Though they're not married (it made me laugh that this was some kind of pain point, but whatever), they do live together. Now, Sadie is surrounded by her deceased former friend's husband, daughter, and things...in her former home.

All of that is weird on its own, but the real chills are associated with the early tiimeline from when the women were in college. There's some really bizarre dark academia action happening by way of a thing called Sylvia Club, which is exactly what every person who has ever been to college or walked by a creative writing class thinks it is. One added feature of this group? Suicide. This motif comes up fairly frequently, so sensitive readers should be mindful of this before proceeding.

What makes this book memorable is the ways in which the past and present collide. Sadie is a little, hmmm, sad in some ways, but it's so intriguing to read about her when she was someone else almost entirely. There are an engaging mystery, a fascinating friendship, and some strange characters at the core of this novel. I enjoyed this wild ride and I'm looking forward to discovering what Zang puts forth next.