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Reviews tagging 'Medical content'
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca
14 reviews
hocuscrocus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, and Pregnancy
peckreadsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Murder, and Pregnancy
dexlud's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
kyra_joy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Things have gotten worse since we last spoke.
This wasn’t bad, it was definitely creepy and I could the descent into danger and madness that our character Agnes heads into. I think that end lack a little bit and maybe due to how much it was hyped I expected it to be more disturbing. 4/5
The enchantment.
This one was odd and I don’t think I really caught on to what it was saying until I read the afterword. It seemed a bit all over the place. I’d give it a 3.75/5 as I still do enjoy the writing.
You’ll find it’s like that all over.
Weirdly I think this one might be my favourite it really fit into the good short story formula, he got in he got out and I could easily pick up the ideas the author was exploring, I also think that as a woman the idea of social expectations of being polite is something that really spoke to me. The end wasn’t wasn’t perfect but overall was good. 4.5/5
So all together I think the collection sits at about 4/5 definitely worth reading, and will give his other works a try.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Medical content
stardustdreamer's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy
Minor: Lesbophobia
melliedm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
1. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is a gruesome epistolary story connecting two women through email and text message where their quickly dread-inducing kink relationship becomes a nausea-inducing horror-show on the desperation people have to love and be loved. Truly disgusting and I could never bring myself to read it again, but it was the best story in the collection.
2. The Enchantment follows an estranged couple as they act as caretakers for an island hotel the winter after their son’s suicide. Heavy religious themes might resonate more with other readers, but they didn’t with me. The beats in this one read more like the author wanted very much for this to be a screenplay and not a short story. It felt a little like other familiar stories in the horror canon put into a blender? My least favourite of the bunch.
3. It’s Like This All Over was mildly interesting. A man finds something strange in his yard and politely confronts his aloof neighbour about it, and then finds himself unable to refuse the neighbour’s invitations. The way the author presented the protagonist’s perspective seemed to have the opposite effect as was intended. By the end I got the sense we were supposed to very much view him as an insert that any of us could very well be, but there was a strange depersonalizations of him that made it difficult. Perhaps it was that he never has a first name, and is only “Mr. (Surname)”, which in my mind has a way of othering someone. I also would have liked to spend more time with the protagonist actually engaging with the neighbour, the escalation seemed far too sudden.
Overall an enjoyable collection of disturbing tales, and quick to read in a single dark evening alone.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
If you can't handle talk of Christianity, praying, etc. Skip the second storyptitirodactyle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Enchantment: 3 stars
YFILTAO: 3 stars
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
hellocath's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Racism
joperceptions's review against another edition
Unsure what the purpose of writing something like this would even be? I really thought it would be better than it was, like a crime/ horror queer novel. And it was horror and it was queer but just the wrong kind of horror. Like a really, utterly fucked up kind.
Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail