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A review by yashrydz
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca
dark
fast-paced
3.75
I've heard so much about this author and finally decided to give his work a try.What I Liked:
- He delves into complicated themes surrounding psychological (coping with and processing loss, existential dread, consent, emotional manipulation), social (societal fears like xenophobia, nationalism, general attitudes), and philosophical topics (the extent of human darkness and weakness, struggles with morality). While conveying fear, he explores these through his stories, and he does so entirely via short stories, which I feel is a much more difficult feat to achieve when addressing these complex topics. Because it is a more challenging feat, it showcases his writing skills, and I think he is very skillful.
- I observed that he tends to focus on religion-related psychological horror (deaths on the crucifix, an extremely religious person) with supernatural elements (an evil deity in the second story and, I suspect, in the third story too). He uses these elements to highlight and compare the darker aspects of human beings versus an entity or evil deity. As a reader, I feel the impact of the underlying message the author is trying to convey.
- I appreciate the difficulty in putting myself through some of the horrifying scenes in the book. That was the element of fun I was searching for, but at the same time, what the author is discussing is clearly conveyed.What I Didn't Like:
- The characters in the titular story develop a super quick relationship, professing love too quickly, which cheapens it (to me). They haven't even met each other. However, I couldn't really "hate" the whole thing because I understood the situation: the sickeningly sad attachment style and the exposé on how one bad person could exploit another person's emotional vulnerabilities to the most absurd extremes.
- I read this without expecting anything, but I would caution that if you are searching for jump scares or keeping-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat type of horror, this isn't it.
- He delves into complicated themes surrounding psychological (coping with and processing loss, existential dread, consent, emotional manipulation), social (societal fears like xenophobia, nationalism, general attitudes), and philosophical topics (the extent of human darkness and weakness, struggles with morality). While conveying fear, he explores these through his stories, and he does so entirely via short stories, which I feel is a much more difficult feat to achieve when addressing these complex topics. Because it is a more challenging feat, it showcases his writing skills, and I think he is very skillful.
- I observed that he tends to focus on religion-related psychological horror (deaths on the crucifix, an extremely religious person) with supernatural elements (an evil deity in the second story and, I suspect, in the third story too). He uses these elements to highlight and compare the darker aspects of human beings versus an entity or evil deity. As a reader, I feel the impact of the underlying message the author is trying to convey.
- I appreciate the difficulty in putting myself through some of the horrifying scenes in the book. That was the element of fun I was searching for, but at the same time, what the author is discussing is clearly conveyed.What I Didn't Like:
- The characters in the titular story develop a super quick relationship, professing love too quickly, which cheapens it (to me). They haven't even met each other. However, I couldn't really "hate" the whole thing because I understood the situation: the sickeningly sad attachment style and the exposé on how one bad person could exploit another person's emotional vulnerabilities to the most absurd extremes.
- I read this without expecting anything, but I would caution that if you are searching for jump scares or keeping-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat type of horror, this isn't it.