Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Las cosas han empeorado desde la última vez que hablamos (y otras desgracias) by Eric LaRocca

20 reviews

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

joperceptions's review against another edition

This book was disgusting? Once I’m done reading my current read I’m going to try and pick this one back up again but am super hesitant to. It takes gore to a whole new level and not it a good way- a level where I consistently had to stop reading for a bit and just sit in my feeling of “wtf am I reading right now”. 

Unsure what the purpose of writing something like this would even be? I really thought it would be better than it was, like a crime/ horror queer novel. And it was horror and it was queer but just the wrong kind of horror. Like a really, utterly fucked up kind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Infertility, Medical content, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual content

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: Gore, Child death, and Suicide

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

Minor: Lesbophobia and Racism

wallywoahjack's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.75

This is not a book I would have typically picked for myself.. I found this book from a review from YouTube Jules Dapper. I’m mixed up which book is which and ordered this one instead of Dead Inside so I was really surprised by the plot even though I had already seen a review for the book.
This book is dark. REALLY DARK. the first story had me gagging. The writing style is really good but it’s a rough read. The stories themselves are good but like I said it’s a physically rough read. The writing is good but there is a lot of triggering content so I’d be very careful to read the tags and know what your getting into. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Body horror, Death, Blood, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Child death, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide, Physical abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Toxic relationship

rosage's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

after reading the afterword it all makes much more sense. each piece left me with something to think about and sit on for a bit. this is a book i would recommend reading in parts instead of flying through like i did. you need that time to process the meaning behind each one and to see how the connect. i’ve decided to include my initial thoughts i wrote for each one just so i can go back and read them again later if i want. 

-things have gotten worse: honestly, i wish it was longer. i felt as though there were some lose ends that i would like to see tied up. i know she died but how? did she go back to work? i would also like to have seen more of their relationship and how that played into everything. i love that it was told through dms and emails though. it’s such an interesting way to tell a story. i wish it was done more often. 

-the enchantment: i really don’t have much to say for this one. personally i wish there had been more to it. it was a lot of religion and talk of christianity that i don’t really understand. her penance for “attempted murder of an angel” is to stay in purgatory for a while?? i think?? the scene with the flood was freaky though it scared me a little. 

-you’ll find that it’s like that all over: huh? just a bunch of bets to show why we should be polite? i don’t fully get it i don’t think

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicide, Grief, Gaslighting, Infertility, Murder, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Torture, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

bethanyhenderson's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Animal cruelty, Death, Sexual content, and Animal death

nittiotvaan's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Torture, and Emotional abuse

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

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, 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

ardentreads_'s review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Blood, Torture, Physical abuse, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Toxic relationship