Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

44 reviews

robinsera's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

samanyana's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

AAAAAAAAAAAAA. Honestly wish I could go back and not read this. It was so good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

maggots and someone eating them for the purpose of getting a parasite

mylargirl's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is a great little disgusting horror novella about the false sense of intimacy that can arise so quickly in an online relationship and the lengths that damaged, lonely people will go to connect and feel loved at any cost. It's funny, sad, and extremely dark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse and Homophobia

emmdashed's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I should have looked at the Content Warnings for this one lol 😬

It's probably not the Grossest Book Ever but it's up there and it features Very Graphic Animal and Child Cruelty/Death. And there are some other really gnarly moments of just nasty stuff. And some cringey sexting. 

Ultimately I am still not sure how I completely feel about this book. It was both extremely easy to read and extremely difficult to read. You want to know what happens and it's so short you can just inhale it but at the same time the images it paints are disturbing and I found myself just really bummed and grossed out. I think it crosses the line at points into being 2 Edgy 4 U so like.... that's certainly a choice. I found myself wondering what is the point what are we saying why this story. But also I read the whole thing so ??? 

I think it could either have been longer so we could get more into the characters and why they behaved the way they did. Or it could have been shorter and excised some of the unnecessary anecdotes (like honestly the Little Christ and the Priest and the Cat moments added literally nothing apart from being ~edgy and disturbing ooooo~). The length that it was was just awkward. 

Some more spoiler heavy thoughts below: 

I honestly could somewhat buy Agnes' immediate devotion to Zoe. It was 0-100 real fast, but it seemed like she was the victim of a lot of emotional abuse in the past, even more than she described. Unfortunately that kind of trauma sometimes leads victims to unintentionally attach themselves to more abusers. (This is not trying to victim blame, abuse is a fucked up cycle that can ruin lives). It almost felt like a Cult Initiation story with this vulnerable woman being caught by this leader and the mentality/lifestyle Zoe offered her?? Not sure where I'm going with it but ??? 

 I was more bothered by the speed at which the Tapeworm grew like... it takes weeks not days. Especially for them to get that big. But maybe I'm just pedantic. 

Also.... I feel bad for Agnes' roommate while all this nonsense is going on like. Your roommate is keeping rotting meat and eating it like that would stink up the house at the very least. Besides all the other weird behavior lol.

TLDR: idk this was a weird one and I can't say if it's good or bad. Bummed me out but I've been thinking about it for days. Blades of Glory says it best. 
"Nobody knows what it means but it's provocative. It's gets the people going." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Not sure about the severity ratings but I tried to put as many of these as I can. I cannot stress enough that this book gets r o u g h. The animal and child death stood out particularly to me but other bits might bother other people.

teaselkie's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Lesbophobia

theocantread's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

... i dont know how to feel about this, its very well done and horrifically disgusting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Vomit

writerkit's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, and Blood

Minor: Cursing, Gore, and Self harm

ginamc's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The story follows a young lesbian, Agnes, as she descends into a kind of madness. She's enabled, or perhaps her madness can be blamed on Zoe, a person Agnes connects with online after listing a family heirloom for sale on a forum.

It's a quick story but the format makes it feel like it's going on forever, as if there's no end to the spiraling downwards and you're eagerly affixed to the possible outcomes of this diabolical parasocial relationship.

But is any of it real? The only evidence we have is the format itself: email exchanges and IM conversations presented as though they were part of evidence of an ongoing trial. Otherwise, it's wholly plausible that we're just in Agnes’ head. It's all completely fanatstical. Illusion.

This may be one of the more disturbing fictional works I've read. There's something insanely sickening about being mesmerized by a story of this nature. Something about the psychology of human … endurance? To what lengths will we go for whatever reason that drives us, consumes us at a given moment?

While I give this a high rating, I don't know that I can recommend it as a casual read. If you're already into the level of psychological (and body) horror of, say, the film American Psycho or even Silence of the Lambs, then you may appreciate this novella.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

august_18's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Homophobia, Self harm, Vomit, and Pregnancy

bluecape's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting