Reviews with content warning for Child death - Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

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

80 reviews

sleepyshelves's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Ew.

A collection of short stories that have been ruining my brain and rotting my bones.

Eric LaRocca writes religious existentialism so well. Christ-figures adorn each story in this collection. Crucifying the believer and challenging nonbelievers alike, LaRocca can tie a noose and execute the reader without them seeing it coming. Wild.

~~I still can’t figure out how his relationship with his mom must be if they keep dedicating these stories to her and her faith.~~

Content Warnings

mashley14's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Generally, I liked it.

I didn't realize that the version I purchased had extra stories included, which was a pleasant surprise! Especially since I was, at first, confused by how many pages were left when Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke ended. But then! Extra spooky stories! Very exciting.

Short Story 1:
I liked how fast paced it was, it kept my attention peaked and I wasn't bored. This was awesome because my biggest problem with a lot of horror novels is that they take forever. Obviously, this is a short story, but still. Her slow descent into madness was captivating, and I loved how the format showed how much time had passed between correspondences. I also enjoyed how complicated both of the characters were--that's something I look for in a good story.

Short Story 2:
This one was a doozy. It took a while for the action to really start rolling, and that was difficult for me. I liked the complicated relationships between the characters, and the weird double meaning of

the son's note

. This was a time where I predicted something about the plot, but the story wasn't predictable--the author made me feel smart.

Short Story 3:
This was my least favorite, but not because it was poorly written or anything like that. It was short and sweet and it definitely took a different turn than I expected, which is all we want from horror, no?

All in all, I enjoyed this collection of stories, and I definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys

Content Warnings

lordslag's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

This was my first time ever reading a short story collection and I had super low expectations because everybody I’ve seen talk about it hateddd the last two stories but I liked all of them. They didn’t move me or anything but I enjoyed reading them all the same. Not an all time favorite but looking forward to re-reading eventually. I don’t think any of the stories are like super horrific or disturbing and crazy, so if that's what you’re looking for maybe pass but they were all fun quick reads to me.

Content Warnings

eldritch_bxtch's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

thebechdelbitch's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

Some cool and creepy ideas in here but I kept being pulled out of the stories by how little these characters behaved like real people (obviously there is only so realistic you can get when someone

agrees to voluntarily contract a tapeworm for their Dom

but even in everyday interactions everyone seemed to be totally lacking in motivation or realistic drives). The middle story was especially lacking, but the final story turned things around somewhat as it seemed to live in a more "magical realism" world from the off.

Also Finneas. It's kind of worth reading for Finneas.

Content Warnings