Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

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

128 reviews

therealmsroth's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Quick, highly intriguing read. Took a partial point off because of all the unanswered questions. I wanted more... In a good way? Very interesting characters. I wish I could get more of their stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

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

mashley14's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Generally, I liked it.

I didn't realize that the version I purchased had extra stories included, which was a pleasant surprise! Especially since I was, at first, confused by how many pages were left when Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke ended. But then! Extra spooky stories! Very exciting.

Short Story 1:
I liked how fast paced it was, it kept my attention peaked and I wasn't bored. This was awesome because my biggest problem with a lot of horror novels is that they take forever. Obviously, this is a short story, but still. Her slow descent into madness was captivating, and I loved how the format showed how much time had passed between correspondences. I also enjoyed how complicated both of the characters were--that's something I look for in a good story.

Short Story 2:
This one was a doozy. It took a while for the action to really start rolling, and that was difficult for me. I liked the complicated relationships between the characters, and the weird double meaning of

the son's note

. This was a time where I predicted something about the plot, but the story wasn't predictable--the author made me feel smart. 

Short Story 3:
This was my least favorite, but not because it was poorly written or anything like that. It was short and sweet and it definitely took a different turn than I expected, which is all we want from horror, no? 

All in all, I enjoyed this collection of stories, and I definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, and Suicide

erinmichele_reads's review against another edition

dark

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Miscarriage, and Suicide

macyplier's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

This was my first time ever reading a short story collection and I had super low expectations because everybody I’ve seen talk about it hateddd the last two stories but I liked all of them. They didn’t move me or anything but I enjoyed reading them all the same. Not an all time favorite but looking forward to re-reading eventually. I don’t think any of the stories are like super horrific or disturbing and crazy, so if that's what you’re looking for maybe pass but they were all fun quick reads to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

meganhornex's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide

thebechdelbitch's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

Some cool and creepy ideas in here but I kept being pulled out of the stories by how little these characters behaved like real people (obviously there is only so realistic you can get when someone

agrees to voluntarily contract a tapeworm for their Dom

but even in everyday interactions everyone seemed to be totally lacking in motivation or realistic drives). The middle story was especially lacking, but the final story turned things around somewhat as it seemed to live in a more "magical realism" world from the off. 

Also Finneas. It's kind of worth reading for Finneas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, and Lesbophobia

2busyreading's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Homophobia

agustdefault's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

collection as a whole - 4 stars

i surprisingly loved the second story the most. we love religious trauma! 

for the titular story, i have some mixed feelings. its extremely disturbing and i absolutely love stories about obsession. it was watching a descent into madness  and it made my stomach curl. however, the pacing in this story is super weirdly done and the ‘descent’ into madness is less gradual and more like stepping off of a cliff. it needed 50 more pages of relationship development and then it might have been 5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Vomit

alexandmor's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief