Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

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

82 reviews

thebechdelbitch's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

Some cool and creepy ideas in here but I kept being pulled out of the stories by how little these characters behaved like real people (obviously there is only so realistic you can get when someone
agrees to voluntarily contract a tapeworm for their Dom
but even in everyday interactions everyone seemed to be totally lacking in motivation or realistic drives). The middle story was especially lacking, but the final story turned things around somewhat as it seemed to live in a more "magical realism" world from the off. 

Also Finneas. It's kind of worth reading for Finneas.
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pinecone22's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense
  • 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

3.5

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plutos_atmosphere's review against another edition

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fast-paced

2.0

WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS AND MENTIONS OF UNSETTLING THINGS!

Things have gotten worse since we last spoke:

3 🌟  Was as gross as people said it was, so that's great? Certainly an interesting read, to say the least. It also made me feel quite uncomfortable. So so so so so weird - please don't read if you don't like
animal abuse and, let's say, the destruction of one's self (in a few ways).


The Enchantment:

2 🌟  Felt a little slow although it certainly wasn't. I think I wasn't fully concentrating when reading this so I missed a few core details that left me confused for the duration of the short story. I'm not sure if I was a big fan of how supernatural it was because I felt it jumped around a lot. Please don't read if you have trauma around or are sensitive to the mentions of
miscarriages
.

You'll find that it's like that all over:

1 🌟  So, soooo boring. I think that the meaning could've been carried out in a different way. I also think that
the racist husband
was just not needed. Very disappointing.

-

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was certainly the star of the show and the other two stories were just not it. I wish I could be more positive about this book but it was just not very fulfilling.
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archaicrobin's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is the first book I’ve read by LaRocca and I am intrigued. The first novella in this collection was my favorite and definitely the one that stands out the most. Each story has characters desperate for connection with others in anyway they can get it, all three are dark and pretty disturbing. I gave this a 3.5 stars because while I did enjoy the novella the other three stories weren’t as memorable in my opinion. I look forward to reading more by LaRocca. 
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moosereads1's review against another edition

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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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jesscoast's review against another edition

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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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rowstream's review against another edition

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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


- Ă„lskar formatet med utdrag av chattkonversationer och mail i 1:a novellen. Gör att vilken text som helst känns mer lättläst. 
- Ă„lskar att det lämnas mycket för tolkning och spekulation. 
- Ă„lskar att det hela tiden ligger en tryckande känsla av obehag genom alla 3 novellerna. 
- Ă„lskar 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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dexlud's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes is a beautiful short story collection by Eric LaRocca, consisting of 3 beautifully told horror stories that make your blood run cold. My favourite story was the second one, The Enlightenment. I found the storytelling amazing and loved it so much! My least favourite was the final one, You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over, which was amazing and I still loved, just not as much as the other two.
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sophia66201's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

this book was very gross, i would never recommend it to anyone but also unlike anything else i have read and i kind of enjoyed it ?
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adelinebal4's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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