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

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

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

19 reviews

dy_'s review against another edition

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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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laurenvoice's review against another edition

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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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mik_yekcuts's review against another edition

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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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libraryofindie's review against another edition

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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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christylouise's review against another edition

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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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barrybj's review against another edition

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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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lilybear3's review against another edition

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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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boglord's review against another edition

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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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nobeliumreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.5

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

Three short stories so this review is basically three reviews in one. I have to admit that I do not read horror often and the last two did not feel like horror to me. But, they were all quick and fast-paced reads that I found intriguing regardless and am excited to see what the author has for us in the future.

1. Things have gotten worse since we last spoke (4 stars)

CW: Animal cruelty, animal death, body horror, vomit, suicidal thoughts, sexual content, child abuse

I’ve already read this one and I didn’t notice any changes when I reread it so I’m going to assume nothing was changed, however I definitely appreciated the story a lot more this time around and even though I already knew what was to happen, I did still feel dread whilst reading it.

I remember not knowing what to expect going into this book; all I knew was that it was sapphic horror in an internet chatroom and though the format was quite new to me and I wasn’t expecting it, it was good! Pretty much my only complaint was that I wish we had more because I was quite invested in Agnes and Zoe’s relationship but I liked where it left off too.

Agnes eating the meat had me cringing just like when I’d first read it. After reading the contract, I really thought Zoe would be the one to look out for, but Agnes’ downward spiral became surprisingly morbid and horrific pretty quickly. She was so entranced and eager at times to do whatever Zoe asked, and then it culminated in her desperation for a child and her unhealthy obsession with it. It was so intriguing to see Zoe’s clear apprehension in where things were going, and then after that how she ended things when it became too much for her.

Overall, my favourite of the three!

2. The enchantment (3 stars)

CW: Death of a child, suicide, suicide attempt, infidelity, miscarriage, death

An intriguing beginning and end and I did like it and thought it had potential, but the writing and pacing really threw me off. The word ‘notice’ and the phrase ‘senses herself’ appeared way too much and I found that the story wasn’t subtle at all as things that the characters miss are constantly pointed out in a ‘what they don’t see is…’ sort of fashion. I’m not sure if that was intentional, but it just felt juvenile to me.

As we neared the end, I felt like everything was being rushed as we had time skip after time skip and there wasn’t enough happening in each little section. I think I would have liked more set up on the religious aspect of the story, or even the story just being longer in the first place. In general, I was just so thrown off by the writing that I did not feel any strong emotions with this one.

3. You’ll find it’s like that all over (3 stars)

I’m not quite sure what to make of this one. It felt more like a really long riddle than anything else and although I did love the theme and the ending, I think it’s just not for me. I did like the writing though and how Mr. Fowler was so desperate to stay courteous and polite he went through all of that despite his growing reluctance because honestly relatable.

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