Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories by Eric LaRocca

16 reviews

joeykills's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Abortion, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Abandonment, Death, Pedophilia, Child death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Stalking, Torture, Murder, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Violence

jessereadsthings's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Mostly just boring unfortunately.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Kidnapping, Incest, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Child death and Adult/minor relationship

sugarbucky's review

dark reflective tense medium-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

3.5

I liked this but it didn’t drag me along with it like the wonderful ‘Things Have Gotten Worse Since Last We Spoke’. I feel like there’s another story lingering in LaRocca’s mind and it’s floating through most of the work in this collection, almost making the themes feel repetitive. I hope he gets that story out and uses those archetypes, because it’ll be fucking crazy to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Cannibalism, Dementia, Homophobia, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Gore, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Self harm, Death of parent, Cancer, Blood, and Kidnapping

chellyfishing's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Suicide, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Murder, Self harm, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Incest

calamitydane's review

dark emotional fast-paced

4.5

I haven't read this writer before but I had heard that they're a great body horror writer. Totally agree. The short stories were just the right size. The descriptions were visceral and made my skin crawl. I loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Chronic illness, Cancer, Child death, Torture, Body horror, Death of parent, Violence, Self harm, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Vomit

Moderate: Incest

dexlud's review

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There is a beautiful short story collection by Eric LaRocca. Although it wasn’t my favourite of his works, I really enjoyed it. My favourite stories were ‘You’re Not Supposed To Be Here’ & ‘ The Flames Burned As Emerald As Grass’. I didn’t particularly enjoy the final story, as it was very odd, but other than that I really enjoyed this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Abandonment, Animal death, Torture, Blood, Cancer, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child death, Body horror, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Homophobia, Incest, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

thecavewoman's review

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

4.25

This is my first book from LaRocca and I must say that the absolute highlight of this was his lyrical writing and stunning metaphors. I did thoroughly enjoy the stories themselves, there was only one that I didn't really care for, but it was easily his writing that made this book 4 stars for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cancer, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy, Incest, and Adult/minor relationship

loustat__'s review

dark tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Cancer, Alcohol, Biphobia, Death, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Cursing, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

akira_outofthegravity's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Oh man it sucks rating this book so low, but I was so disappointed.

I loved Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, and I was hoping of something of a similar experience here. 

I found a couple of gems, I’ll Be Gone By Then, The Trees Grew Because I Bled There, Bodies Are For Burning are probably the standout stories. 

You’re Not Supposed to Be Here is okay, but not great.

I was hoping for something more dark, and disturbing. I liked his portrayal of grief but that’s about it.

Maybe give this one a skip.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

sargasso_c's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional

3.75

This collection, as can now be expected of Eric LaRocca, has a few gems amongst a group of overall pleasing -or at least well crafted - and shiny rocks. The last story in the collection, Please Leave or I'm Going to Hurt You, stood out to me as significantly better than the rest. I would give that story alone a 4.5 rating. I also enjoyed the stories Bodies are for Burning and You're Not Supposed to be Here. To me, Bodies had an underlying meaning.

One could interpret Bodies as the story of someone who shifts from "The bond of motherhood is something I know I'll never understand." to someone that certainly acts like a Parent in terms of fearless self-sacrifice for the child in her care. This transformation is after an almost magical encounter with an elderly woman in a hardware store. With a phrase that seemed to carry at the same time hypnotic and hypnosis-breaking properties, the main character, Hailey, is changed in an instant from someone consumed by compulsion and selfishness, to just what the elderly woman calls her: "a loving mother."

While I'm still pondering my interpretation of the subtext in You're Not Supposed to be Here, I definitely enjoyed it for the horror writing alone. While the rest of the stories didn't necessarily strike me as especially outstanding in the horror or literary fields, they were all a decidely interesting read. After finishing The Trees Grew Because I Bled Here, I feel the time reading the book was time spent entertained and spent well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Abandonment, Body horror, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt