Doll Parts entranced me. It’s a tender, haunted story of friendship and fate, told in a captivating dual timeline. In college, Nikki plunges into the campus mystery of the Sylvia Club, a coterie of Sylvia Plath devotees shadowed by death. In the present, Nikki is gone, dead, or something more ambiguous, and her estranged friend Sadie, pregnant and restless, moves into Nikki’s house. There she finds research notes, cryptic signs, and a design that only someone who knew her to the marrow could set in motion.

Sidenote: Am I the only one who hunted online frantically wanting to buy the gold-plated jade turtle pendant on a gold chain by Avon after reading this? The novel is that vivid: objects feel alive, talismans of memory and desire.

What stayed with me most wasn’t the whodunit mechanics (though the campus mystery is worth the read and full of great music cues), but the intimate choreography between these two women. Nikki knows Sadie so well she can predict her next moves even after death. She counts on Sadie’s self-interest, even anticipates that Sadie will fall for her husband, and folds that knowledge into her plan. She trusts Sadie with her daughter. The result is both eerie and strangely loving, a testament to how complicated female friendships can be.

Zang writes with an atmospheric grace: the book feels like a mixtape of grief and obsession, scored by a killer playlist and lit by the soft glow of half-remembered college nights. It’s dark academia with heart, a campus ghost story that lingers more in the psyche than in jump scares. (Though there are a few of those!)

The texture of Doll Parts, from its objects, music, and uncanny understanding of friendship, remains unforgettable. A campus mystery worth reading, and one that will have you scouring vintage sites for that turtle pendant while you think about the friends who once knew you better than you know yourself. Maybe the one you used to wear twin shirts with.

I know Zang didn’t write it just for me, but it hits all the sweet spots. I loved this book!

According to a writing masterclass I recently finished, for a novel to achieve greatness, the readers need to figure out things for themselves, and conversely, to learn something from the author that inspires or changes their thinking. In both areas, Zang hit it out of the ballpark. The pacing was slow in the early chapters, and the two main characters (especially Sadie) behave in unlikeable and selfish ways,but after the half-way mark it dawned on me what the author was showing me. In the simplest terms, don't judge bad choices-- or for that matter, concern and offers of help-- too quickly! By the end of the novel, I suspected that the other protagonist, Nikki, was so damn-near perfectly sculpted that she was the author's avatar. The vivid, atmospheric descriptions and details were also exquisite. I felt transported to the college and the city of Baltimore (though have never been there) every time I picked up the book. Also loved the ghosts! Imaginary or not, they were deployed believably and encapsulated Nikki's ongoing dread.

Though Zang is clearly a master writer, I also feel that with so much focus on the protagonists' mindsets and the overarching themes above, enough information was missing to make the story feel unresolved and unsatisfying. Nikki and Sadie both repeated (often) their obsession with learning the motives behind the deaths, but Sadie's stated realization that there are some things one can never know just felt like a cop-out. While that is certainly true in the case of suicides (particularly Nikki's mother's), the unknowable motives of the antagonists and foils in the story made those characters less believable and frustrating in the end, which was a let-down considering the elaborate growth arcs of the protagonists. I am a bit confused by Harry's, but especially Gallina and Birdie's motivations, and feel more of these characters' backstories were needed to make their actions plausible. For all the elaborateness of the setting, there were also a few holes and credibility issues with the college itself. It was depicted as having an almost- "7 Sisters" reputation, but what, exactly made it such a sought-after school? Hard to believe the the administration could get away with being conspicuously silent and apparantly nonchalant about shocking deaths and predatory teachers, though zealous about curfews and burning candles in dorm rooms. And only one barely-there counselor, after all those suicides?? Even in the 80's (my era), college counseling departments were well established and publicized.

Despite these flaws, I did finish the book with new insights about human nature, and look forward to Penny Zang's development as a writer!

Although I highly admire anyone who can write and use language so diversely this book was a bit hard to follow for me. So many characters to follow and the back and forth between ghosts and real people gets a bit confusing as it is not always clear what is real and what is not. It was a very slow build, difficult to keep me engaged until about 60% of the way through. The reason for the title of the book is also still lost on me.

Dark academia… these girls owned it. Only one other book hit me like this in 2025… and that was Slashed Beauties. 🖤 Doll Parts I felt in my soul. Dramatic? Maybe.. but that is how I felt.

The Sylvia Club… these sad, broody girls were obsessed with Sylvia Plath. So obsessed that they committed suicide? That is what Loch Raven College is claiming. HMMM 🤔

The whole vibe had me enamored with this book. I wanted to be besties with Nikki and Sadie. Girls… I have the black nail polish ✅ black clothes ✅ black car✅ Also obsessed with 90’s grunge. 😂 Seriously let’s hang out…. Oh but wait.. Nikki is dead… and well Sadie hasn’t exactly been the BEST friend.😳🫣 You will see.

This book was a whole gothic vibe… dark academia at it’s best. Haunting… creepy… absolutely fantastic. I can’t recommend it enough. @pennyzang absolutely killed it with this debut!! 🖤

I really can’t stop thinking or talking about this book.

This was very readable and had so much potential but something about it just fell flat for me. I think because there were some unanswered questions that just did not work for me. I would sure want to read from this author again I liked the atmosphere and time period but maybe just had a bit too high of expectations. Liked but did not love.

3.75/5

Doll Parts by Penny Zang completely sucked me in. It’s a dual-timeline suspense novel that flips between past and present, and the way the story slowly unravels kept me glued to the pages. I told myself I’d read a couple chapters before bed, and suddenly it was 2 a.m. because I had to know what happened next.

The vibe of this book is just the right kind of creepy—dark, moody, and a little unsettling in the best way. There are scenes that gave me goosebumps and stuck with me even after I put the book down. The characters feel so real, messy and layered, which made the suspense hit even harder.

If you’re into slow-burn suspense with a ghostly twist, this is definitely one to pick up. Honestly, I can’t believe this is her first book—I’ll be grabbing whatever Penny Zang writes next.

Got a little boring

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for my copy of DOLL PARTS.

I really wanted to like this book but i just couldn't get into it. I didn't care about the characters and didn't enjoy the plot. I don't recommend this one.

A gorgeous read. Dreamy, moody, with verse that sounds like a Mazzy Star song. This story about missing girls, estranged friends and fresh motherhood makes me want to step back through time, grab my high school Doc Martens boots and kick some ass. It rekindled the Riot Grrrl in me and I couldn't love it more.

Eerie and twisty psychological thriller with a powerful female friendship at its center. If you've ever had one of those friendships, you won't be able to stop reading. I finished it in just 2 days. I appreciated the Daphne du Maurier aesthetic, the dark academia vibes and the searing portrayal of strangled grief.

This one didn’t immediately grab me but by the end I was in a choke hold and instead of rushing to get it read by the end of 2025, I let it be my first read for 2026. 4.5 /5

A mystery wrapped in dark academia, bonds of friendship and motherhood. I really loved this one