Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

24 reviews

erebus53's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I picked up this one at random because the title seemed interesting.
The story is weird, mysterious, supernatural, and bleak. It felt like there were actually 2 stories stitched together.

People are going missing, and one of the police officers investigating is a Muslim man who is getting flack from his husband for pulling long hours. They are a sweet couple, but continually on guard due to micro-agressions from their neighbours.. which escalate to macro-agressions and ultimately extreme violence, as someone in the neighborhood is trying to pressure the men into leaving.

The other protagonist is a depressed young man who is grieving the loss of his wife and unborn child in a motor accident that permanently damaged his own leg. He has this niggling voice that continually disparages him. It belongs to an actual demon (is it real?) with whom he has an oddly codependent toxic relationship. (Nowhere near as friendly as Calcifer in Howl's Moving Castle). One day he meets a fancy old man with a swanky mansion who offers wishes.. this gives me real "Needful Things" vibes. The guy is about as suspect as you can get even before he introduces himself as Heart Crowley.

Mumble mumble, magic, cult, demon / God, zealots, creepy, blood and rituals etc. (step 4: profit!... or prophet?)
Meanwhile sadistic homophobic violence, rape, multilation, and all that bad stuff

but that's ok because we have God locked in our cellar and he can make it all miraculously better.
Kinda liked the whole Clockwork Orange feel of stumbling into the mansion in the middle of the night though. ("HOME")

I liked that most of the characters are gay or pan. Interesting to hear the widow character voicing experience of biphobia. I realize it's supposed to be gritty and horrific but the whole rape angle just felt awful rather than creepy. I kind of feel like the whole story might have had more going for it if it was either a supernatural horror with a paranoid anxiety sufferer OR the horrible side of be what can happen to a sweet gay couple just trying to live their best life, but trying to tangle the two together is just not quite doing either justice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Racism, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Violence, Rape, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Abandonment, Blood, Car accident, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts

julesbarthe10's review against another edition

challenging dark

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

3.0

Eric LARocca never cease to leave me in utter "WTF-hood" after I read one of his books. I think I've become addicted to the utter confusion they cause me. Everything the Darkness Eats hits on topics of homophobia, severe grief, devote worship, idiotic adults, and of course god is there also. A luring old man seems to seamlessly convincing people to join him in his creepy home so he can show them something beyond there wildest dreams, and then no one hears from them again. Ghost (the MC) can save them though, at least that is what the old man tells him. Only he can set them free, and all he has to do is trust the weird old man. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Homophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Blood, Sexual assault, Death, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, and Child death

angreadseverything's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Excrement, and Biphobia

mfrisk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is hard to describe. It is told in multiple perspectives and is surreal and supernatural and an incredibly slow burn. I don’t know if I fully understand how everything came together or didn’t in the end but I did still think this was an interesting read. I feel like we needed a bit more for this to feel fully resolved and definitely would warn everyone to check trigger warnings as this is not an easy read. This is a tough book to wrap my head around for sure.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicide

aparker89's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A fast-paced supernatural mystery that will leave you begging for mercy. Not only will you feel sorrow, you can feel the slash of the knife. While you witness some truly horrific events in this story, most are not so far fetched as to be unbelievable. You feel for every person you meet and the evil lurking is both ethereal and too real! With any luck, you might finish unscathed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, and Grief

Moderate: Car accident, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Excrement, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Islamophobia, and Blood

Minor: Body shaming, Biphobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Confinement

mortiffa's review against another edition

Normally I thoroughly enjoy this author's work, but this one is just too hard to get through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

riflelizards's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, and Excrement

Minor: Child death, Death, Biphobia, and Medical content

emilycarvelli's review

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Excrement, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Torture, Sexual harassment, Violence, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

allena_inwonderland's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

What I liked: descriptive writing style, that kept me going. The immediate attention to detail.
Short and quick chapters 
The beginning 
Prologue was actually one of my favorite parts and I wanted more!

What I didn’t like:
Unnecessary gang rape 
Malik not knowing how to defend himself & forgetting 
That epilogue?!
I didn’t like how some story lines weren’t flowing like it felt like fluff 

So-so:
Religious aspects 
- I have my own problems w religion but it was interesting for me to read something so interwoven with biblical aspects from someone (LaRocca) not being of faith and I get it is for his mom 
Is that why we got that epilogue 👀
- The synchronicity‘s with biblical stories
Specifically I felt this brought attention to the anti christ & how in the Bible it talks about them deceiving people to gather a following and that’s exactly what I was seeing portrayed. 

Also Ghost and Mr. Crowley differences and relationship. 
Book shows a good portrayal of grief.

Lots of thoughts but don’t want to spoil the story!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Car accident, Blood, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Suicide

j_m_boyer's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Another phenomenal work by LaRocca! I don’t have the right words to express how much this novel resonated with me and how well written and stylized it. This is one of their more emotionally charged works, layered with depth- full of dread instead of  the literary equivalent of jump-scares.  Although given his other works I did anticipate a little more body horror than there was. 

It’s deliciously dark, at times bleak and grotesque in all the best ways. For anyone who has a complicated relationship with religion, or grew up contemplating their place in a world that does not want them- this book is for you. I wish it had about 50 more pages to really expand and give the final act some more time to play out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, and Homophobia