Reviews - We Can Never Leave This Place

611 reviews for:

We Can Never Leave This Place

Eric LaRocca

3.46 AVERAGE

jessima's review

3.25

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

🤯This book was something else. Creepy, disturbing, and sad. My heart went out to Mara and how she had to process the trauma she was experiencing in losing her father and being trapped with a mother who resented her. I’m not sure that I fully understood all the possible deeper meaning behind the story. Also, not sure if the fantastical elements is something I love either. The writing was wonderful though. This is my first read of this author’s work and I look forward to reading his other books.

bathtubbookworm's review

4.75

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

🛁 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 🛁

We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric LaRocca

“When you’re given a gift, something else gets taken away.”

Synopsis: Mara and her mother are living in a war torn apocalyptic era when her father is killed. When a stranger appears at their front door, offering safety, Mara is less than thrilled. As her mother begins to change, Mara is along for the ride, as there’s nothing for her outside her front door. Also, it’s been bolted shut.

This is my third of Eric LaRoccas books and I would go as far as to say it’s probably my favorite. For the most part. LaRocca always offers one thing in abundance: grotesque depictions and deep connections between characters. But what he does so well is the switching of genres. For this one, I felt as if I would watch it in an animated adult movie - possibly stop motion? Maybe in clay form? It gave me such a Coraline feel and I cannot explain how cool it was.

The major theme of this story is grief and all the forms it takes. I love when a story messes with my head and this one took the idea of the steps of death acceptance and spun them around, making me think. Bravo on another one, Eric! I give We Can Never Leave This Place 9.5/10 bubble baths!📚🛁

atomic_gardener's review

4.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

novelsandbottles's review

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

misterkyle1901's review

4.5

dark funny sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

esh_among_the_ether's review

4.0

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

“From baby teeth to virginity, to live is to regularly suffer loss.”

If you have read LaRocca’s work before then, you will not be surprised by the immersive beauty of the prose in this novella. We Can Never Leave This Place is unlike his previous work; it is a watercolor of genres that reads like a Kafka-esque folktale. It is dark, gritty, and soaked with grief (or is that just the sewage?). It captured me, spun me in its web, and did not let go until the end. It had me questioning what was REALLY going on. There is no sense of time and place. This ambiguity suspends the story in the liminality of the past and present. If you are a fan of stories with dubious narrators and force the reader to suspend belief, this little novella of loss and familial trauma might be for you.

Content Warnings

lauriemckane's review

1.0

dark fast-paced

grimdreadful's review

2.0

challenging dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I don't think this book was terrible but I can't say that I enjoyed reading it either.

The ending tied some of the parts together that were confusing throughout the book but not enough in my opinion. Some of the events and actions that were mentioned in the book a few times had no explanations. The book was heavily filled with metaphors for grief, loss, and trauma but for me it felt it was too over the top symbolic or maybe I'm just not clever enough and some things went over my head. Ultimately leaving me with too many questions to be satisfied with the outcome of the book.

The cover art on this is beautiful as always.

erat's review

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A psychedelic nightmare, grim as hell and consistently entertaining, or at least it kept me entertained. If you're looking for a straightforward, easy to process story, move along. This one is twisted.

lexaaaa_77's review

2.5

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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