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Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca
8 reviews
melliedm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
1. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is a gruesome epistolary story connecting two women through email and text message where their quickly dread-inducing kink relationship becomes a nausea-inducing horror-show on the desperation people have to love and be loved. Truly disgusting and I could never bring myself to read it again, but it was the best story in the collection.
2. The Enchantment follows an estranged couple as they act as caretakers for an island hotel the winter after their son’s suicide. Heavy religious themes might resonate more with other readers, but they didn’t with me. The beats in this one read more like the author wanted very much for this to be a screenplay and not a short story. It felt a little like other familiar stories in the horror canon put into a blender? My least favourite of the bunch.
3. It’s Like This All Over was mildly interesting. A man finds something strange in his yard and politely confronts his aloof neighbour about it, and then finds himself unable to refuse the neighbour’s invitations. The way the author presented the protagonist’s perspective seemed to have the opposite effect as was intended. By the end I got the sense we were supposed to very much view him as an insert that any of us could very well be, but there was a strange depersonalizations of him that made it difficult. Perhaps it was that he never has a first name, and is only “Mr. (Surname)”, which in my mind has a way of othering someone. I also would have liked to spend more time with the protagonist actually engaging with the neighbour, the escalation seemed far too sudden.
Overall an enjoyable collection of disturbing tales, and quick to read in a single dark evening alone.
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Slavery, Sexual content, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Abandonment, Body horror, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail
morganpearcy's review against another edition
4.5
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
At first, I was surprisingly aroused. Who doesn’t love an intense queer love story!? Then, I was shocked. Then, I was utterly disgusted and fascinated. This one was a fucking trip. 😳 I relished the grotesqueness of it very, very much. Even though I wanted to vomit at times, I couldn’t put it down, and I couldn’t look away. That’s how you know it’s a damned good horror short.
The Enchantment
This was a dark and emotional read for me. I did NOT see the end coming. I felt the sadness, anger, frustration, and arousal of these characters. Could not stop reading until I was done with the short. This was really perfection on so many levels. Be prepared with tissues at the very end.
You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over
More queer characters. I flew through this story, although it was my least favorite of the three, by far. I definitely felt the tension of this one building in my chest until the very end. I love it when authors don’t wrap the ending up in a nice little bow - letting the reader fill in their own ideas. This did that really well.
Definitely check the CW before reading to ensure that you can stomach the content.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Death, Slavery, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Gore, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, and Self harm
amberbjorge's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gore, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Homophobia
I had to pause multiple times while reading this book because it gave me the creeps. Great storytelling in an interesting way.ptitirodactyle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Enchantment: 3 stars
YFILTAO: 3 stars
Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Stalking, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Vomit
hellocath's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Suicide, Medical content, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Racism
molliundera_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Infertility, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
themeadowlibrary's review against another edition
- 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
1.5
An interesting concept with some really badly done writing.
I wish I could give this a higher rating because it was viscerally disturbing and unique. However, the writing fell extremely flat for me, and the overall story seemed rushed.
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Self harm, Gaslighting, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, Stalking, Death, Homophobia, and Suicide attempt
lilybear3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Death, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Grief, Self harm, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Torture
Moderate: Confinement