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cutelilcryptid's review
dark
tense
slow-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
2.0
First, I want to say that I was SO READY to like this book. I picked it up in a bookstore with no context (I haven't read Larocca's previous work and knew little about it, despite the TikTok hype). I read the Introduction and thought that reading the collected writings of a fictional murderer would be AWESOME. Even though I knew it was fiction, I bought into the concept entirely and I was HYPED to read it.
...and that's where the excitement stopped. I'm not going to whine about content. Shoving toothpicks in people's ears? Daydreaming about how you'd kill your boyfriend? Masturbating on cancer patients? Cyborg cunnilingus? Fine, whatever. I signed up for weird shit when I chose to read a book in this genre. The actual reasons for my discontent are outlined below.
1. Have I mentioned that I love the concept of this book? The concept is that this collection of dialogue, poetry, and novella chapters were written by a serial killer, Martyr Black, and has been published in order to "shed light" on his crimes, victims, and possibly give hints to where he's disappeared to. I was 100% ready to take a highlighter to this book and make a whole ass conspiracy theory pinboard trying to connect the dots and piece together everything he did, where he disappeared to, and why he left. There's this tendency with writing, especially with poetry, to try to conflate the narrative voice with the voice of the writer themselves and view all poetry as autobiographical (*cough*Sylvia Plath*cough*), and I thought this book was going to provide some really interesting commentary on that idea. Which leads to my next point:
2. The ending "plot twist" totally fumbled the entire concept for the book (I use "plot twist" in the loosest sense, this book has no real plot beyond what I already stated). At the end of the book you find out that MARTYR BLACK PLAGIARIZED EVERYTHING FROM HIS VICTIMS. With the exception of the dialogues recorded on his phone, the poems and the ENTIRE NOVELLA were stolen from people he murdered. So any REAL attempts to piece the mystery of Martyr Black together through his writing is an utter fucking waste because HE DIDN'T WRITE IT. While this might provide interesting commentary on the "haha this is why you shouldn't treat people's writing as autobiographical" idea I mentioned earlier, the real reason I hate it is because it effectively shirks all responsibility for the established concept.
Remember how I said I was ready to take a highlighter to this and go crazy connecting dots trying to figure out who Martyr is and why he did what he did? The ending renders that effectively impossible, because it's not actually written by Martyr. As a reader, I felt this was a cheap and lazy ploy. It would be much more difficult, after all, to craft a self-contained anthology that, bit by bit, reveals more and more about the writer and how his dark obsessions lead to hideous acts. Instead we get "hee hoo the whole thing was stolen anyway". It's the equivalent of getting to the end of the book and the main character wakes up in bed and says "Wow, what a strange dream". I was pissed.
ONE MAJOR PROBLEM with this ending: if this is an anthology of "stolen" poetry, there are still way too many thematic and stylistic connections between different works. One of the poems mentions "Holy Eucharist" and there's a later poems is titled "Eucharist". The same poem is also titled "I Search for You Until My Lungs Sprout Metal" and the ENTIRE NOVELLA is about people being infested by machines. These are just a few examples I can think of off hand and I'm sure there's plenty more. There also just seems to be little effort put into differentiating the works from one another stylistically (you know, the way they would be if all written by different people). Like, the book isn't even properly selling the "this was all plagiarism" concept that well. It's infuriating.
3. Purely as prose, the writing itself is quite good. Larocca's use of language is exquisite and masterful--to say anything less because I didn't like the end of the book would be discrediting him. The poetry is think is a little less inspired--it just seems like regular prose from anywhere else in the book with some line breaks tossed in. Good poetry is not just prose with line breaks, and I will die on that hill.
...and that's where the excitement stopped. I'm not going to whine about content. Shoving toothpicks in people's ears? Daydreaming about how you'd kill your boyfriend? Masturbating on cancer patients? Cyborg cunnilingus? Fine, whatever. I signed up for weird shit when I chose to read a book in this genre. The actual reasons for my discontent are outlined below.
1. Have I mentioned that I love the concept of this book? The concept is that this collection of dialogue, poetry, and novella chapters were written by a serial killer, Martyr Black, and has been published in order to "shed light" on his crimes, victims, and possibly give hints to where he's disappeared to. I was 100% ready to take a highlighter to this book and make a whole ass conspiracy theory pinboard trying to connect the dots and piece together everything he did, where he disappeared to, and why he left. There's this tendency with writing, especially with poetry, to try to conflate the narrative voice with the voice of the writer themselves and view all poetry as autobiographical (*cough*Sylvia Plath*cough*), and I thought this book was going to provide some really interesting commentary on that idea. Which leads to my next point:
2. The ending "plot twist" totally fumbled the entire concept for the book (I use "plot twist" in the loosest sense, this book has no real plot beyond what I already stated). At the end of the book you find out that
Remember how I said I was ready to take a highlighter to this and go crazy connecting dots trying to figure out who Martyr is and why he did what he did? The ending renders that effectively impossible, because it's not actually written by Martyr. As a reader, I felt this was a cheap and lazy ploy. It would be much more difficult, after all, to craft a self-contained anthology that, bit by bit, reveals more and more about the writer and how his dark obsessions lead to hideous acts. Instead we get "hee hoo the whole thing was stolen anyway". It's the equivalent of getting to the end of the book and the main character wakes up in bed and says "Wow, what a strange dream". I was pissed.
ONE MAJOR PROBLEM with this ending: if this is an anthology of "stolen" poetry, there are still way too many thematic and stylistic connections between different works. One of the poems mentions "Holy Eucharist" and there's a later poems is titled "Eucharist". The same poem is also titled "I Search for You Until My Lungs Sprout Metal" and the ENTIRE NOVELLA is about people being infested by machines. These are just a few examples I can think of off hand and I'm sure there's plenty more. There also just seems to be little effort put into differentiating the works from one another stylistically (you know, the way they would be if all written by different people). Like, the book isn't even properly selling the "this was all plagiarism" concept that well. It's infuriating.
3. Purely as prose, the writing itself is quite good. Larocca's use of language is exquisite and masterful--to say anything less because I didn't like the end of the book would be discrediting him. The poetry is think is a little less inspired--it just seems like regular prose from anywhere else in the book with some line breaks tossed in. Good poetry is not just prose with line breaks, and I will die on that hill.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Violence
I tried adding as many trigger warnings as I could remember, but honestly probably missed some. (Also idk how to tag some, like the whole "consenting to sexual activity until finding out she's a cyborg" deal.) It's basically purposely written to be disturbing and fulfills no other purpose.iliveinletters's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Vomit, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Physical abuse
mcpl's review
dark
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent
hunkydory's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Child death
rosage's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
what did i just read?! this was the most incredible horror novel i’ve ever read! i want to read any and everything by eric larocca now. this book was phenomenal!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Grief, Murder, Stalking, Torture, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Child death, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Blood, Car accident, Death, and Kidnapping
stephanieluxton's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I loved this book. What's it about? I don't even know. It's kind of a dialogue between two men who are dating. One is a serial killer. It switches back and forth between that and a novella written by the serial killer in which we follow the story of a video game designer and her little brother who move to a rich/well-known game developers estate because she was hired to work on one of his new games. There's a lot of strangeness surrounding the designer and his estate. Weird stuff happens. Best to go into it not really knowing anything.
Things I liked:
Things I liked:
- This book is very eloquently written. I literally enjoyed the words used. It was poetic.
- It felt like reading two books in one and neither part was boring. It did this incredibly well despite not being a lot book itself.
- There was a lot of ambiguity but it seriously worked in this book. No information dumping!
- I was surprised. Little hints are dropped throughout the book that certain things were happening and it really comes full circle (mostly in the novella portion).
- I found a lot of the characters to be likeable and colourful.
Things I Didn't Like:
- That it ended. I wanted to know more!! Although I suspect knowing too much would take some of the magic and the mystery away from this book. This might be my favourite book of the year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Child death, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Body horror
Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol
Body Horror:jaedia's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body horror, Death, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, and Death of parent
dupont1998's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
dalmavatai's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
3.0
This was a ride for sure. This book is very well-written, and especially the parts about Martyr and Ambrose, their relationship, and their conversations are so fascinating and thought-provoking. Not just Martyr's psychopathic thinking but also their conversations about what it means to be human.
However, the story within a story unfortunately didn't work for me. It was way too centred on machinery stuff (iykyk) and I just didn't give a single fuck until the very end. I think both storylines have a surprising ending that I really enjoyed, but unfortunately that didn't entirely make up for the story-within-a-story being so boring and absurd. So all in all I feel like it's around a 3🌟, but I'm definitely planning to pick up Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke which comes out in September on Amazon UK!
However, the story within a story unfortunately didn't work for me. It was way too centred on machinery stuff (iykyk) and I just didn't give a single fuck until the very end. I think both storylines have a surprising ending that I really enjoyed, but unfortunately that didn't entirely make up for the story-within-a-story being so boring and absurd. So all in all I feel like it's around a 3🌟, but I'm definitely planning to pick up Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke which comes out in September on Amazon UK!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, and Violence
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