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venuscollective's review against another edition
dark
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
1.75
Reading in public and constantly having to stop my face from showing how freaked out I am.
The writing in this book is so painfully unnatural. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, speaks in this way. The writing style probably had a purpose and maybe I'm not an advanced enough reader but it just took me out of the story and made me cringe.
Agnes is so intensely stupid I actually can't feel bad for her. She's like a walking bag of air, not an ounce of sense in her. She does and believes the most insane things simply because Zoe, who she has never met before mind you, says so. I mean- how do I tell you I want a baby and you respond by going, "oh! Pick up a parasite. It's practically the same thing. I know cause I had a tapeworm one time." WHY WOULD I BELIEVE YOU?? WHY WOULD I DO IT??
All in all. I did not like this. It was repulsive-which I understand was the purpose and is why I'm giving it 2 stars cause that was done perfectly- the characters are horribly written and the language just irritated me. Maybe this book could be for you but it CERTAINLY wasn't for me.
The writing in this book is so painfully unnatural. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, speaks in this way. The writing style probably had a purpose and maybe I'm not an advanced enough reader but it just took me out of the story and made me cringe.
Agnes is so intensely stupid I actually can't feel bad for her. She's like a walking bag of air, not an ounce of sense in her. She does and believes the most insane things simply because Zoe, who she has never met before mind you, says so.
All in all. I did not like this. It was repulsive-which I understand was the purpose and is why I'm giving it 2 stars cause that was done perfectly- the characters are horribly written and the language just irritated me. Maybe this book could be for you but it CERTAINLY wasn't for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, and Blood
reallynotconor's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is heavy; it would be easier to name the trigger warnings that the book doesn't cover.
So a friend of mine asked me if I could get this for her, and I thought the cover looked cool, so I also gave it a read. Due to it being a novella and the format of the text, it only took me an hour and a half to get through it, but wow, that was a lot. The dark tragic love between Agnes and Zoe holds a dark mirror to our own depravity and obsessive tendencies towards those who we see as better than us. The story starts with a simple offer to buy an apple peeler and quickly delves into the dark reality of emotionally abusive relationships, fanaticism and addiction.
The novella only contains two speaking characters, Zoe and Agnes. At the start of the book, Agnes is struggling to pay rent and, in an act of desperation, attempts to sell the only thread she has to her family, the apple peeler. Zoe offers to buy it over email, and after learning about Agnes's financial situation, she sends her money to pay rent, which quickly sparks a friendship between the two that leads to a romantic relationship. Zoe tells Agnes about something her father used to tell her, "Do you deserve your eyes?" which tries to motivate someone to live life in a way that makes them deserve the ability to look at it all.
Their romantic relationship quickly turns sinister when Zoe sends Agnes a slave contract that gives her complete control over all of Agnes's financial and social accounts and pressures Agnes into doing inappropriate things that cost her her job, which makes her financially dependent on Zoe. She also must sleep in the nude with the air conditioning on full blast. Agnes didn't see this as a red flag as she felt free and alive after she was fired, but Agnes quickly expressed how she wants to be a mother, and Zoe told her that she should grab a salamander and walk around with it for a day to experience what holding a life was like, and after the day was done, she would have to kill it.
It isn't until Agnes kills an animal for Zoe that she starts to lose control over Agnes. Agnes cuts contact after she kills the animal, but just as the name entails "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke" but not in the way you might think, after a month Agnes has grown to obsess over Zoe and desperately tries to win her back, and When she does, she expresses her desire to be a mother to Zoe's child, which Zoe uses to make her eat a large piece of beef that had been left outside for multiple days in order to contract a tape worm that she named Finneas. Agnes, at this point, has become completely infatuated with Zoe and obsessively contacts her every day, and even when Zoe tries to explain to her that it is just a tape worm that will pass, Agnes believes that it will stay with her forever as her baby. At this point, Zoe understands what she has done and quickly exits Agnes's life, leaving her completely alone and desperate. Similar to the effect of making an addict go cold turkey, Agnes desperately tried to relapse, but without her object of obsession, she drives her hatred inward.
All around, this book made me say "what the fuck" out loud twice, which is more than what I can say for other books, but the pacing of the book was quite off, with it just kind of ending without feeling like a true conclusion.
World 5/10
Characters 7/10
Plot 8/10
overall enjoyment 8/10
So a friend of mine asked me if I could get this for her, and I thought the cover looked cool, so I also gave it a read. Due to it being a novella and the format of the text, it only took me an hour and a half to get through it, but wow, that was a lot. The dark tragic love between Agnes and Zoe holds a dark mirror to our own depravity and obsessive tendencies towards those who we see as better than us. The story starts with a simple offer to buy an apple peeler and quickly delves into the dark reality of emotionally abusive relationships, fanaticism and addiction.
The novella only contains two speaking characters, Zoe and Agnes. At the start of the book, Agnes is struggling to pay rent and, in an act of desperation, attempts to sell the only thread she has to her family, the apple peeler. Zoe offers to buy it over email, and after learning about Agnes's financial situation, she sends her money to pay rent, which quickly sparks a friendship between the two that leads to a romantic relationship. Zoe tells Agnes about something her father used to tell her, "Do you deserve your eyes?" which tries to motivate someone to live life in a way that makes them deserve the ability to look at it all.
Their romantic relationship quickly turns sinister when Zoe sends Agnes a slave contract that gives her complete control over all of Agnes's financial and social accounts and pressures Agnes into doing inappropriate things that cost her her job, which makes her financially dependent on Zoe. She also must sleep in the nude with the air conditioning on full blast. Agnes didn't see this as a red flag as she felt free and alive after she was fired, but Agnes quickly expressed how she wants to be a mother, and Zoe told her that she should grab a salamander and walk around with it for a day to experience what holding a life was like, and after the day was done, she would have to kill it.
It isn't until Agnes kills an animal for Zoe that she starts to lose control over Agnes. Agnes cuts contact after she kills the animal, but just as the name entails "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke" but not in the way you might think, after a month Agnes has grown to obsess over Zoe and desperately tries to win her back, and When she does, she expresses her desire to be a mother to Zoe's child, which Zoe uses to make her eat a large piece of beef that had been left outside for multiple days in order to contract a tape worm that she named Finneas. Agnes, at this point, has become completely infatuated with Zoe and obsessively contacts her every day, and even when Zoe tries to explain to her that it is just a tape worm that will pass, Agnes believes that it will stay with her forever as her baby. At this point, Zoe understands what she has done and quickly exits Agnes's life, leaving her completely alone and desperate. Similar to the effect of making an addict go cold turkey, Agnes desperately tried to relapse, but without her object of obsession, she drives her hatred inward.
All around, this book made me say "what the fuck" out loud twice, which is more than what I can say for other books, but the pacing of the book was quite off, with it just kind of ending without feeling like a true conclusion.
World 5/10
Characters 7/10
Plot 8/10
overall enjoyment 8/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Abandonment
Moderate: Slavery, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
ladyinverse's review against another edition
yeah i couldn't finish it the moment i heard "the cat and the priest."
i can handle a decent amount of viscera and whatnot but i can't do animal cruelty.
i can handle a decent amount of viscera and whatnot but i can't do animal cruelty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
emmdashed's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
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
I should have looked at the Content Warnings for this one lol 😬
It's probably not the Grossest Book Ever but it's up there and it features Very Graphic Animal and Child Cruelty/Death. And there are some other really gnarly moments of just nasty stuff. And some cringey sexting.
Ultimately I am still not sure how I completely feel about this book. It was both extremely easy to read and extremely difficult to read. You want to know what happens and it's so short you can just inhale it but at the same time the images it paints are disturbing and I found myself just really bummed and grossed out. I think it crosses the line at points into being 2 Edgy 4 U so like.... that's certainly a choice. I found myself wondering what is the point what are we saying why this story. But also I read the whole thing so ???
I think it could either have been longer so we could get more into the characters and why they behaved the way they did. Or it could have been shorter and excised some of the unnecessary anecdotes (like honestly the Little Christ and the Priest and the Cat moments added literally nothing apart from being ~edgy and disturbing ooooo~). The length that it was was just awkward.
Some more spoiler heavy thoughts below:
I honestly could somewhat buy Agnes' immediate devotion to Zoe. It was 0-100 real fast, but it seemed like she was the victim of a lot of emotional abuse in the past, even more than she described. Unfortunately that kind of trauma sometimes leads victims to unintentionally attach themselves to more abusers. (This is not trying to victim blame, abuse is a fucked up cycle that can ruin lives). It almost felt like a Cult Initiation story with this vulnerable woman being caught by this leader and the mentality/lifestyle Zoe offered her?? Not sure where I'm going with it but ???
I was more bothered by the speed at which the Tapeworm grew like... it takes weeks not days. Especially for them to get that big. But maybe I'm just pedantic.
Also.... I feel bad for Agnes' roommate while all this nonsense is going on like. Your roommate is keeping rotting meat and eating it like that would stink up the house at the very least. Besides all the other weird behavior lol.
TLDR: idk this was a weird one and I can't say if it's good or bad. Bummed me out but I've been thinking about it for days. Blades of Glory says it best.
"Nobody knows what it means but it's provocative. It's gets the people going."
It's probably not the Grossest Book Ever but it's up there and it features Very Graphic Animal and Child Cruelty/Death. And there are some other really gnarly moments of just nasty stuff. And some cringey sexting.
Ultimately I am still not sure how I completely feel about this book. It was both extremely easy to read and extremely difficult to read. You want to know what happens and it's so short you can just inhale it but at the same time the images it paints are disturbing and I found myself just really bummed and grossed out. I think it crosses the line at points into being 2 Edgy 4 U so like.... that's certainly a choice. I found myself wondering what is the point what are we saying why this story. But also I read the whole thing so ???
I think it could either have been longer so we could get more into the characters and why they behaved the way they did. Or it could have been shorter and excised some of the unnecessary anecdotes (like honestly the Little Christ and the Priest and the Cat moments added literally nothing apart from being ~edgy and disturbing ooooo~). The length that it was was just awkward.
Some more spoiler heavy thoughts below:
I was more bothered by the speed at which the Tapeworm grew like... it takes weeks not days. Especially for them to get that big. But maybe I'm just pedantic.
Also.... I feel bad for Agnes' roommate while all this nonsense is going on like. Your roommate is keeping rotting meat and eating it like that would stink up the house at the very least. Besides all the other weird behavior lol.
TLDR: idk this was a weird one and I can't say if it's good or bad. Bummed me out but I've been thinking about it for days. Blades of Glory says it best.
"Nobody knows what it means but it's provocative. It's gets the people going."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and War
Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Not sure about the severity ratings but I tried to put as many of these as I can. I cannot stress enough that this book gets r o u g h. The animal and child death stood out particularly to me but other bits might bother other people.bloomlove's review against another edition
dark
medium-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
Literally only writing a review of this book to say DO NOT READ THIS. It’s terrible awful vile and disgusting I would not recommend this to anyone just save yourself and don’t even go near it. Don’t even look this books way it’s not worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
cuteasamuntin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Regretfully, this collection simply wasn’t my cup of tea. The work was emotionally impactful and intriguing enough that I simply couldn’t put it down, but it surpassed my tolerance threshold with respect to certain themes and imagery.
That being said, I am glad I read this. LaRocca exhibits technically-skilled writing, compelling style, and a cohesive voice, a combination that makes for a powerful, even formidable storyteller. I would recommend his work to fans of dark, reflective fiction and horror that seeks to reflect and linger rather that titillate and dissipate.
That being said, I am glad I read this. LaRocca exhibits technically-skilled writing, compelling style, and a cohesive voice, a combination that makes for a powerful, even formidable storyteller. I would recommend his work to fans of dark, reflective fiction and horror that seeks to reflect and linger rather that titillate and dissipate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Medical content
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Murder
harmon's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
It was a very short and fast, but difficult read. I'm even surprised that I didn't throw up whilst I was reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
little_noel's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
I literally can’t give this book a rating. I finished reading about 20 minutes ago and I still feel sick. I think this book gave me similar vibes as Bunny by Mona Awad (sorry if I spelled that wrong it’s 1am) except it had more gore and I liked this ending slightly better. It was interesting and I don’t regret reading, but I’m gonna need a few days to process this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
samdash's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Blood
hannahhicken's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? No
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail