Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

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

177 reviews

fionamatilda's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

why did i read this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Self harm, and Child abuse

alexander1776's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• 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? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pregnancy, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Emotional abuse

akane_readsyt's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Torture, Abandonment, and Mental illness

Moderate: Medical content, Religious bigotry, Grief, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

bongdrinker's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

What the fuck

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Child death, and Toxic relationship

cecilyroseceillam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This is a book. Very triggering and disgusting about a depraved lesbian relationship. After reading this you will look at Apple peelers, tape worms and meat very differently.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Child death

korolevakotykiv's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• 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? Yes

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

ninjatrombonist's review against another edition

dark fast-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

The characters are not well fleshed out making their motives and the path of their character trajectory unclear. There is not enough background on the character Agnes to believe that she would so quickly decend into and be willing to go along with the events of the book. The book is heavy on using graphic metaphors to describe the relationship between the two characters but the whole thing seems like it's rushing through the plot. This book relies on the shock and gore factor alone. I read it in one 2 hour sitting and spent most of the time confused as to why these characters were acting the way they were. The way they talked to one another was like they needed to include enough literary devices to get a good grade on their high school English assignments. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Body horror

roach's review against another edition

dark sad fast-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

2.0

 

And as I'm left standing there [...], I wonder to myself, "Does it matter? Does any of this really matter?"
The answer's no.
The answer's always been no.

I never could really get into this and I understand why the opinions about this are so divided.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke has an interesting, simple premise of following the problematic relationship of two women exclusively via e-mails and chat logs. It's all presented like a true crime text with parts being omitted at the request of the police and due to legal proceedings still going on. All of that could make for a really cool atmosphere and tone, but it never really capitalizes on it. This choice of presentation didn't end up actually adding that much to the story and the way the characters are written, or rather the things they say, felt out of place exactly because of that framing.
All the e-mails the characters send each other are written in this flowery and extensive prose that didn't seem like natural conversations at all. The characters don't just exchange information, they tell each other whole stories. They write walls of texts of professionally edited anecdotes and go out of their way to embellish them with colorful prose. Like two overcompensating actors doing overly dramatic, corny monologs instead of two people having conversations.
It went directly against the true crime framing of candid online correspondence.

Additionally, the characters seem like flat stereotypes of traumatized people, unable to form healthy relationships. The book is way too short to believably paint the characters and actually justify their questionable decisions, which ends up making the extremes rather comical.
It was almost impossible for me to empathize with the main character because she falls way too hard and way too quickly for the obvious and ridiculous abuse that's offered to her without believable reasoning or much of, if any, self-reflection. And with every step she took, I was just asking myself "why?".

And before you know it, the story ends. I didn't feel like I got much out of it. It's flimsily structured torture porn that fails to come across as authentic or believable in any way.
It wasn't the worst book I read though. The core concepts had potential. Also, some bonus points for the parasite/insect stuff, I guess. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse and Vomit

jj_tj's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Child abuse

wends_nblw's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I'll say this : while it didn't live to its hype, I really enjoyed it. 

I expected it to be written differently, but it didn't hinder my ability to enjoy the story. I found Agnes and Zoe's relationship to be fascinating alongside Agnes' descent into madness. I do wish there had been an aftermath, or just a longer story. I wish it hadn't gone so fast since I really wanted their relationship to slowly build into horror, but yk. We can't win everything.

All in all, a great story. I'm excited to see similar works by LaRocca. :3c

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Death, Child death, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Body horror, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Lesbophobia and Homophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Suicide