Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

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

170 reviews

mylargirl's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

This is a great little disgusting horror novella about the false sense of intimacy that can arise so quickly in an online relationship and the lengths that damaged, lonely people will go to connect and feel loved at any cost. It's funny, sad, and extremely dark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse and Homophobia

ephemeral_remi's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Homophobia, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Cursing, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Vomit, and Death

emmdashed's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

I should have looked at the Content Warnings for this one lol 😬

It's probably not the Grossest Book Ever but it's up there and it features Very Graphic Animal and Child Cruelty/Death. And there are some other really gnarly moments of just nasty stuff. And some cringey sexting. 

Ultimately I am still not sure how I completely feel about this book. It was both extremely easy to read and extremely difficult to read. You want to know what happens and it's so short you can just inhale it but at the same time the images it paints are disturbing and I found myself just really bummed and grossed out. I think it crosses the line at points into being 2 Edgy 4 U so like.... that's certainly a choice. I found myself wondering what is the point what are we saying why this story. But also I read the whole thing so ??? 

I think it could either have been longer so we could get more into the characters and why they behaved the way they did. Or it could have been shorter and excised some of the unnecessary anecdotes (like honestly the Little Christ and the Priest and the Cat moments added literally nothing apart from being ~edgy and disturbing ooooo~). The length that it was was just awkward. 

Some more spoiler heavy thoughts below: 

I honestly could somewhat buy Agnes' immediate devotion to Zoe. It was 0-100 real fast, but it seemed like she was the victim of a lot of emotional abuse in the past, even more than she described. Unfortunately that kind of trauma sometimes leads victims to unintentionally attach themselves to more abusers. (This is not trying to victim blame, abuse is a fucked up cycle that can ruin lives). It almost felt like a Cult Initiation story with this vulnerable woman being caught by this leader and the mentality/lifestyle Zoe offered her?? Not sure where I'm going with it but ??? 

 I was more bothered by the speed at which the Tapeworm grew like... it takes weeks not days. Especially for them to get that big. But maybe I'm just pedantic. 

Also.... I feel bad for Agnes' roommate while all this nonsense is going on like. Your roommate is keeping rotting meat and eating it like that would stink up the house at the very least. Besides all the other weird behavior lol.

TLDR: idk this was a weird one and I can't say if it's good or bad. Bummed me out but I've been thinking about it for days. Blades of Glory says it best. 
"Nobody knows what it means but it's provocative. It's gets the people going." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Death, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Chronic illness, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infertility, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Miscarriage

Minor: Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Not sure about the severity ratings but I tried to put as many of these as I can. I cannot stress enough that this book gets r o u g h. The animal and child death stood out particularly to me but other bits might bother other people.

rand0mpers0n'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Therapy 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit, Outing, Homophobia, Child abuse, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

minty_drops'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

2.5

I get that the author is a member of the queer community but I feel that it isn’t the place of a non-lesbian to write a torture porn novella surrounding the struggles of a manipulative lesbian relationship. Also for all the talk regarding horrific gore, it feels like it’s written by middle school boys trying to one up each other but doing so very poorly and without meaning. It’s too fast paced to an unrealistic extent, I could barely differentiate Agnes and Zoe since they have to defining traits, and it feels driven by mediocre shock factor.

It was an interesting concept that with better care and the proper story teller could be expanded on beautifully. The only part that stuck with me was the quote “What have you done to deserve your eyes?” Which I wish was further expanded on.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Sexism, Self harm, and Child death

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

starkov's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

Girl why the fuck would you do that oh my god

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Homophobia

cuteasamuntin's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Regretfully, this collection simply wasn’t my cup of tea. The work was emotionally impactful and intriguing enough that I simply couldn’t put it down, but it surpassed my tolerance threshold with respect to certain themes and imagery.

That being said, I am glad I read this. LaRocca exhibits technically-skilled writing, compelling style, and a cohesive voice, a combination that makes for a powerful, even formidable storyteller. I would recommend his work to fans of dark, reflective fiction and horror that seeks to reflect and linger rather that titillate and dissipate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Body horror, Homophobia, Blood, Suicide, and Medical content

Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Vomit, Murder, and Miscarriage

sweetpea4's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Vomit

aliceayork's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

This book is really weird ad not as horrid as people make it out to be. With no real plot but characters who are crazy its a fast read that leaves you confused. If the book has a theme outside of gore I have no idea what it is. Its written as a police report but gives no reason why.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Mental illness, Homophobia, Gore, and Body horror

literally_mint's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Death, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Violence, Body horror, Infertility, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Sexual content