Reviews tagging 'Racism'

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

23 reviews

sleepyshelves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Ew.

A collection of short stories that have been ruining my brain and rotting my bones.

Eric LaRocca writes religious existentialism so well. Christ-figures adorn each story in this collection. Crucifying the believer and challenging nonbelievers alike, LaRocca can tie a noose and execute the reader without them seeing it coming. Wild.

I still can’t figure out how his relationship with his mom must be if they keep dedicating these stories to her and her faith. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Child death, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, and Pregnancy

dexlud's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Child death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Self harm

Moderate: Vomit

jalecd's review

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

3.0

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - 4/5
An unsettling depiction of obsession, kink, and how human nature often makes us seek out the very things that destroy us. A visceral and uncomfortable read.

The Enchantment - 2/5
With key themes of religiosity, grief, and what grief can do to the human psyche, I expected a bit more from the plot. Ultimately, I was left with more questions than answers, and honestly a bit confused by the plot. 

You’ll Find It’s Like That Over - 3/5
An enjoyable read commenting on people pleasing and the human desire to maintain social etiquette no matter the cost. It was a bit anti-climactic but I enjoyed the build up 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Child death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Self harm, Grief, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Minor: Lesbophobia and Racism

likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Torture, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Child death, Self harm, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

bunnyprincess's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Homophobia, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Suicide, Vomit, Torture, Body horror, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Gore, Infertility, and Violence

zuuizai's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

2.5

I was extremely excited to read this book due to all of the wonderful things I have heard about it. I ended up disappointed. There was a couple of things I did enjoy though. I loved the formatting of the book, and the ideas were interesting enough to keep me reading until the end. 

The first story was the best of the three. I really understood and thought that both Agnes and Zoe were well fleshed out characters. I also enjoyed both the theme of religion and the need for human connection in all of the stories.

I felt like the other stories were missing something. The enchantment especially. It felt like a lot was left out. For example, why did Olive and her son have black circles on their hands. It just felt slightly pointless and like the author wasn't sure where the story was going. 

I think this book highly lacks in the horror department. It just seemed like the author was trying to throw in as many disturbing things as he could for shock value. I understand that horror does that a lot as a genre, but it was still highly ineffective. Most of the scenes which were meant to be 'scary' just made me think "ew, thats gross". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Racism, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Excrement, and Suicide

stardustdreamer's review

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Body horror

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Mental illness, Medical content, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

Minor: Lesbophobia

ghost_cat99's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Animal death, and Child death

Moderate: Miscarriage and Vomit

Minor: Racism

jessereadsthings's review

dark medium-paced

2.0

A wild read. The first one was the only one of the three I really liked. The second felt oddly paced and incomplete. The last one I flat out did not enjoy at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body horror, Gore, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Racism, Suicide, and Animal death

libbywibby's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

this book was an adventure and i’m kinda of concerned i liked it as much as i did lol. the last short story was very dull tho

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Miscarriage, Racism, and Rape