Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

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

45 reviews

selkieteeth's review

challenging dark fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Grief, Gore, Animal death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Xenophobia, Racism, Infidelity, and Alcohol

tesshersh's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

3.5

“things have gotten worse” is def the star out of the three, even tho it is the most nauseating one - don’t think the others are really worth the read but they’re quick at least so I don’t feel like my time was completely wasted

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Content Warnings

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

hellocath's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Suicide, Medical content, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Racism

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

I had so much fun reading this!! That’s what this collection is: fun. 

My ranking is as follows:
1. Things have gotten worse since we last spoke.
Disturbing, darkly funny, I had no idea where it was going. It’s outlandish and yet believable, I loved loved loved it- the hype is justified and so are the trigger warnings. 

2. They Do It Like That All Over.
The last story holds a huge punch. It’s sickening how anxiety producing it is, and yet. I think it’s a commentary on how politeness (like Mr Fowler’s silent acceptance- though he disapproves- of his husbands extreme racism) makes him complicit and vulnerable, but it could just be a Shirley Jackson-esque tale of terror that works equally well.

3. The Enchantment.
Though still entertaining I didn’t like this one as much because I didn’t really know what was going on. It’s a book that slaps you one way, the beginning is absolutely the best part. It meanders into a tale of paranoia, but never really answers anything. I still enjoyed it though. 

Honestly an amazing read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Animal death, and Body horror

Moderate: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Suicide

Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, Racism, and Vomit

In Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke a character is forced to eat raw, rotten meat.

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

3.75

I really don't know how to rate this... I just rated each of the individual stories in the book and averaged the ratings.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - 3 stars
The Enchantment - 4.5 stars
You'll Find It's Like That All Over - 4 stars
The average doesn't exactly come out to 3.75, but it's close enough to what that average is. But anyway, I don't really want to say that I enjoyed this, because enjoy is definitely not what I felt while reading this. It was still really good, though! Things Have Gotten Worse was a lot to digest, and I also don't know if I want to? It's just a very complicated reading experience, but it was still really good! The last two stories were really good too, and I liked those even more than the first one. I think that's because, while I thought Things Have Gotten Worse was really good, I didn't really enjoy the reading experience. I had more fun with the other two. That being said, I really, really liked it! I definitely want to read everything this author writes! I have a very complicated relationship to horror, where I like reading it, but I don't necessarily enjoy reading it. I don't think I'm explaining it very well, but this book fit very snuggly into that for me. However, I really liked it, and would recommend it (at least to people who like this kind of thing and have looked at the trigger warnings!!!).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal cruelty, Child death, Violence, Animal death, Death, Body horror, and Self harm

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Homophobia

molliundera_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Infertility, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

whitneys_bookstack's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm and Gore

laurenvoice's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

 Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes is a collection of short stories centred around human connection and faith. This collection of short stories is dark and not for the faint of heart.

The titular story Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was grotesque and disturbing. Eric LaRocca telling the story through emails and instant messenger was genius; they kept us guessing about Zoe's true identity and intentions towards Agnes and the truth behind Agnes's end. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was a solid ⭐⭐⭐⭐ read; with a nice true-crime vibe.

The second story in this collection, The Enchantment, was dark and mysterious. The beginning of this story was quite horrific and a tad confusing;

I was wondering how Milo managed to crucify himself

. After the main event that started the two main characters' story on an isolated island, it felt like the story dragged a bit, and it was hard to stay interested. Nonetheless, the message gained from the themes centred around faith and religion, to the point our main characters seem paranoid about it, was well worth the read. Overall, The Enchantment was a ⭐⭐⭐.5 read.

The final story You'll Find It's Like That All Over was weird and tense. It made absolutely no sense why Mr Fowler kept going with the bets, which caused a very stressful scene involving a guillotine. But LaRocca had me hooked from the start with this story. You'll Find It's Like That All Over was a ⭐⭐⭐.75 read; it would have earned an extra 0.25 stars if it was a tad longer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, and Suicide

Moderate: Torture, Self harm, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Lesbophobia and Racism

lovelylilelle's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Blood, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

themeadowlibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

1.5

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

An interesting concept with some really badly done writing. 

I wish I could give this a higher rating because it was viscerally disturbing and unique. However, the writing fell extremely flat for me, and the overall story seemed rushed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Self harm, Gaslighting, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, Stalking, Death, Homophobia, and Suicide attempt