Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca

21 reviews

selkieteeth's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Xenophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

tesshersh's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

3.5

“things have gotten worse” is def the star out of the three, even tho it is the most nauseating one - don’t think the others are really worth the read but they’re quick at least so I don’t feel like my time was completely wasted

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

dy_'s review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

laurenvoice's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

 Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes is a collection of short stories centred around human connection and faith. This collection of short stories is dark and not for the faint of heart.

The titular story Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was grotesque and disturbing. Eric LaRocca telling the story through emails and instant messenger was genius; they kept us guessing about Zoe's true identity and intentions towards Agnes and the truth behind Agnes's end. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was a solid ⭐⭐⭐⭐ read; with a nice true-crime vibe.

The second story in this collection, The Enchantment, was dark and mysterious. The beginning of this story was quite horrific and a tad confusing;

I was wondering how Milo managed to crucify himself

. After the main event that started the two main characters' story on an isolated island, it felt like the story dragged a bit, and it was hard to stay interested. Nonetheless, the message gained from the themes centred around faith and religion, to the point our main characters seem paranoid about it, was well worth the read. Overall, The Enchantment was a ⭐⭐⭐.5 read.

The final story You'll Find It's Like That All Over was weird and tense. It made absolutely no sense why Mr Fowler kept going with the bets, which caused a very stressful scene involving a guillotine. But LaRocca had me hooked from the start with this story. You'll Find It's Like That All Over was a ⭐⭐⭐.75 read; it would have earned an extra 0.25 stars if it was a tad longer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Racism and Lesbophobia

mik_yekcuts's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Feels like the author hates women, first and foremost. All the “horror” elements felt forced and gratuitous. Tried too hard to be edgy and shocking but the characters were not well developed enough for any of it to land. The repeated theme of crucifixion and pregnancy felt almost fetishistic, and was definitely redundant and out of place. I will say that I finished the first two very quickly but sadly was let down both times and really had to push myself to read the third story, anticipating disappointment again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

chasingrabbittrails's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Murder

christylouise's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

2.5

I had really high expectations for this book, but felt like the stories fell short. Except from its interesting email format and making me say ‘eww’ out loud once it had very little else to offer. Maybe this type of book just isn’t for me, but overall it was a fast read and decently well written so I’d say give it a read and decide for yourself.

The other two short stories in this collection were off a similar vein, I don’t regret reading them but they were nothing special.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage and Suicide

Minor: Sexual content

This books does not spare the details, two crucifixions take place, one is a child. Extreme Caution Advised!!!!

barrybj's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, and Vomit

Minor: Child abuse, Racism, and Lesbophobia

i know a horror book is good when it makes me say "oh my fucking god" out loud while reading it

lilybear3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This was on everyone's tiktok so I wanted to experience it for myself.  This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Do I have critiques?  Of course, so let's get into it.  I liked this edition because it had 2 other stories.  I don't know if the original book has this, but the author explains the inspiration for each short story and I really appreciated that.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke:  WTF did I read?  I get why people are disgusted, horrified, etc, but isn't that the point?  There's just about every CW/TW possible.  The ending was confusing in the sense that why on earth did it end like that.  My critique is in the characterization.  The characters didn't seem realistic in the way they talked to each other in the emails.  The Instant Message chats were more believable.  This story had more potential to be suspenseful and horrifying, but the pacing was too fast.  Their relationship escalated too quickly and it's hard to believe that Agnes would dive so deep into a relationship within, what, like 2 weeks?  I looked up the meaning of the ending because I was curious if I missed something, I like that there is discussion surrounding it. 3/5

The Enchantment:  I liked this better than the first story.  It was truly suspenseful, but the ending was confusing.  I am interested in things with religious undertones and I was trying so hard to put the pieces together.  It wasn't as climatic as it could've been but I was scared of what would come next. 3/5

You'll Find It's Like That All Over:  This story reminded me of The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe.  I don't know if it's as good as those since it's been a while, but it's similar.  I could tell where this story was going since it was familiar, and I don't think that's a bad thing.  3.5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement

boglord'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Vomit, and Abandonment