Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

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

143 reviews

sb4012315's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Slow to read, only the first story kept my interest. But even that took awhile to read, and was pretty gruesome. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

shebbyreads's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Mental illness, and Sexual content

viciousfrockery's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

this collection unsettled me in a way that's stuck with me as i eat apples, as i pick the florets of vegetables from my teeth, and as i slip into the bath. queer not as in romantic, but queer as in obsessed with the self and devoted to the other, queer from the inside out. truly excellent dip into what LaRocca can accomplish in short order. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Gore, Body horror, Body shaming, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Death

lauriebird's review

dark 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? Yes

2.25

I really had high hopes for a book. First of all, the cover is gorgeous! Congratulations to the artist because that cover really drew me in and kept me going.

I love to read queer literature even if the characters are morally grey or ambiguous. However, I feel there is something… “icky” about the way the author wrote about the woman that I feel falls into the evil lesbian trope. I found that their motivations within the story were not often clear. I feel like it it was written to shock but not provoke the reader to look into the characters. Perhaps he wrote the shock value to distract from what little personality he gave both women? I think this story is so underwhelming for what could have been a truly remarkable premise. Neither woman has a unique voice and honestly, they sound like they’re writing in an into to philosophy course. S.Penkevich said it right when they mentioned that this could’ve been a story that examined class and power dynamics and could’ve given a deeper look into Agnes’ vulnerabilities. 

I think it’s also important to note in this story that both women are equally manipulative and manipulated. Agnes and Zoe both use love bombing and silence as punishment. However, Agnes repeatedly reaches out to Zoe (in a way that feels very “lesbians have mommy issues” but I digress) and begs for love while Zoe’s affection is contingent on Agnes completing her tasks. Once Agnes does and becomes obsessed with the relationship between the two of them, Zoe becomes disinterested which leaves Agnes presumably devastated. However, to get to this conclusion, the story meanders through nothingness. I set this book down a few times; not because I was disturbed but because I was incredibly bored.

As I stated, this could’ve been a great book! This book has so much potential. It is disturbing to a point but the prose was just too distracting for me. I feel like if the author gave himself more time to truly develop a voice and personality for both women and delve further into the manipulation and desires for both women, this could’ve been an amazing novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Abortion, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Violence and Abandonment

Minor: Grief, Classism, and Gaslighting

zombiegf's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

average queer dating experience tbh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

mountainfox's review against another edition

sad tense 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

2.0

What the f*** did I just read?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Gore, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

acgeorge's review

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Death, Grief, Self harm, and Vomit

cloud_z's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Abandonment, Medical content, Self harm, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Vomit, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy

rory_john14'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Gore

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Vomit, Cursing, Pregnancy, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Classism, Medical content, Abortion, Terminal illness, Slavery, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Dementia, Abandonment, and Death of parent

asmokeybear's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

0.75

This book made me wish I wasn't literate.

The writing between the two characters seemed super unnatural, for the amount of exposition given in this book, I just don't think this was the right format to use for the entire thing. Also, it was icky.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Body horror, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, and Animal death