Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

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

55 reviews

sofiam19's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.75

Overhyped unfortunately. All the stories could’ve used more detail. First one - the relationship moved crazy fast to be realistic. Second - only first part was interesting but rest was boring and flat. Third - ending ruined the whole story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, and Body horror

Moderate: Miscarriage, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

automatic_rae's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Dark & twisted. Creative & thought-provoking. Gripping & gruesome.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infertility, Body horror, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal death, Gore, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Murder, Grief, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Miscarriage, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abandonment

quoth_thepaperraven's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

3.75

thing have gotten worse is an excellent story. the other two were okay. enjoyable, but nothing compared to the titular narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Grief, Self harm, Sexual content, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Confinement

tropicalpanda's review against another edition

Too gory and disturbing, I barely made it through the salamander murder and I had to stop when she began describing crucifying a baby in excruciating detail

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Murder, Slavery, Violence, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Child death, Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Body horror

sleepyshelves's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Child death, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, and Pregnancy

qit's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Toxic relationship

moosereads1's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

I try not to rate books as one star but I just couldn't stand this. The stories were dark, which I usually like but the characters were just outright awful. I couldn't stand any of them, and thus I couldn't feel for them. I had to push myself to finish it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Self harm

spiralagony's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Sexual content

jesscoast's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I ripped through these three short horror stories, all with their own strange and unsettling premises. I was drawn in by the first, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, because of the chat room format and internet friendship gone wrong plot. The plunge into darkness was abrupt, disturbing, and shocking. I found myself getting queasy and squeamish, for a story set entirely online, the fictional real world consequences and true crime set up were intensely gory. The build up was addictive though and I couldn’t help but brace myself for the worst, dreadful of how far things could go. For a former internet teen such as myself, this is maybe the ultimate horror because it blends internet anonymity with the late night isolated, curious, frenzied message boards and chats with no supervision, guidebook, or sanity or safety checks. 

The other stories were dark and sad though I won’t say they’ll be nearly as memorable to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Gore, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Body horror, and Self harm

rowstream's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

- Älskar formatet med utdrag av chattkonversationer och mail i 1:a novellen. Gör att vilken text som helst känns mer lättläst. 
- Älskar att det lämnas mycket för tolkning och spekulation. 
- Älskar att det hela tiden ligger en tryckande känsla av obehag genom alla 3 novellerna. 
- Älskar författarens skrivsätt. 

- Varför parasiter?! Hujedamig. 
- Uppskattar mindre sonens dödsfall i 2:a novellen då den verkar OMÖJLIG. Men alla har artistisk frihet, jag kan bara inte se hur det är möjligt?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Suicide, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, and Miscarriage