Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

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

19 reviews

wellreadandhalfdead's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Body horror, Self harm, and Animal death

Moderate: Mental illness and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit

zuuizai's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I was extremely excited to read this book due to all of the wonderful things I have heard about it. I ended up disappointed. There was a couple of things I did enjoy though. I loved the formatting of the book, and the ideas were interesting enough to keep me reading until the end. 

The first story was the best of the three. I really understood and thought that both Agnes and Zoe were well fleshed out characters. I also enjoyed both the theme of religion and the need for human connection in all of the stories.

I felt like the other stories were missing something. The enchantment especially. It felt like a lot was left out. For example, why did Olive and her son have black circles on their hands. It just felt slightly pointless and like the author wasn't sure where the story was going. 

I think this book highly lacks in the horror department. It just seemed like the author was trying to throw in as many disturbing things as he could for shock value. I understand that horror does that a lot as a genre, but it was still highly ineffective. Most of the scenes which were meant to be 'scary' just made me think "ew, thats gross". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Racism, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Excrement, and Suicide

xwritingstoriesx's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

I picked this collection up to complete a reading challenge prompt and given the harsh reviews I've read, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this collection as much as I did. Overall I rate this collection a 4.25 stars. 

The first of the anthology, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, was disgusting to say the least. It touched upon toxic relationships, cyber dating and complete domination over another. I was expecting murder, physical abuse etc. but it went in a different direction entirely. It also played on a specific fear of mine very well. This story was a 4.5 stars. 

The second story, The Enchantment, was a bit of a miss for me personally. In this story, the afterlife has been scientifically disproven and masses of people commit suicide as a result of this. The religious fanaticism was interesting to read as ive never personally experienced this or seen this first hand. But I hated every single character and I felt a little confused about the message it was trying to convey. This story was 4 stars. 

The final story titled, "You'll Find It's Like That All Over" centers a middle-aged man living in the middle of a neighbourhood with his racist husband who hates a foreign neighbour. This one felt like a short story from Shirley Jackson and I quite enjoyed it for that reason. Themes included social niceties, courtesy, and humiliation. I really enjoyed reaching the end of the short story and realising the cyclical narrative structure of this piece, I think this effect really rounds out the story and highlights just how severe this burden is. I rated this a 4.5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Torture, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Suicide, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

morganpearcy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

4.5

This is a collection of 3 shorts by LaRocca: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke; The Enchantment; You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over. LaRocca is brilliant with shorts. They have been added to my list of authors that I’d like to read the entire bibliography of, just from these three. I would have given it 5⭐️, but the descriptions of two fat characters bothered me. Those descriptions were not atrocious as some, but had an undercurrent of fatphobia that I could not ignore. I only took 0.5⭐️ off for it because both are just a few words, not the focus, and it’s not full of vitriol - just using unnecessary words that really need to be removed from our language.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
 At first, I was surprisingly aroused. Who doesn’t love an intense queer love story!? Then, I was shocked. Then, I was utterly disgusted and fascinated. This one was a fucking trip. 😳 I relished the grotesqueness of it very, very much. Even though I wanted to vomit at times, I couldn’t put it down, and I couldn’t look away. That’s how you know it’s a damned good horror short.

The Enchantment
 This was a dark and emotional read for me. I did NOT see the end coming. I felt the sadness, anger, frustration, and arousal of these characters. Could not stop reading until I was done with the short. This was really perfection on so many levels. Be prepared with tissues at the very end.

You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over
 More queer characters. I flew through this story, although it was my least favorite of the three, by far. I definitely felt the tension of this one building in my chest until the very end. I love it when authors don’t wrap the ending up in a nice little bow - letting the reader fill in their own ideas. This did that really well.

Definitely check the CW before reading to ensure that you can stomach the content.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Death, Slavery, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Gore, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, and Self harm

ptitirodactyle's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

THGWSWLS: 4,25 stars
The Enchantment: 3 stars
YFILTAO: 3 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Stalking, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

the first story out of these three was fine, but the other two were quite boring :/ reading the afterword did make them both a bit clearer, but it doesnt make the stories any more enjoyable. the first one was really well-written and i wanted to know how it would end, but the second story was a little too drawn out, and the third one was just...strange. i also dont know why the third story's main characters husband was described as being racist because he's literally only mentioned. it just feels like a really weird detail about someone we dont ever meet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Vomit, Self harm, Body horror, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Blood, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Death, and Gore

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

rosage's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

after reading the afterword it all makes much more sense. each piece left me with something to think about and sit on for a bit. this is a book i would recommend reading in parts instead of flying through like i did. you need that time to process the meaning behind each one and to see how the connect. i’ve decided to include my initial thoughts i wrote for each one just so i can go back and read them again later if i want. 

-things have gotten worse: honestly, i wish it was longer. i felt as though there were some lose ends that i would like to see tied up. i know she died but how? did she go back to work? i would also like to have seen more of their relationship and how that played into everything. i love that it was told through dms and emails though. it’s such an interesting way to tell a story. i wish it was done more often. 

-the enchantment: i really don’t have much to say for this one. personally i wish there had been more to it. it was a lot of religion and talk of christianity that i don’t really understand. her penance for “attempted murder of an angel” is to stay in purgatory for a while?? i think?? the scene with the flood was freaky though it scared me a little. 

-you’ll find that it’s like that all over: huh? just a bunch of bets to show why we should be polite? i don’t fully get it i don’t think

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicide, Grief, Gaslighting, Infertility, Murder, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Torture, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

boglord's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, and Body horror

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Abandonment, Infertility, and Vomit