Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

32 reviews

maybbrenna's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

gay people, complex characters, complex situations, tense as heck, oh my goodness. the afterword is a MUST read - it explains the collection of seemingly extremely different stories. every time i thought i figured out what the twist would be, the twist got twisted. read the first story on my 35 min break at work, had to extend my break another ten minutes to finish it. i read through the rest of the book in one sitting. will be getting the rest of the author’s books tomorrow. wow. 

edit: was reading some of the other reviews and while i definitely understand the criticisms, the stuff the author goes into can be pretty upsetting to people who may be sensitive to the topics, but i enjoyed it because 1) i’m a horror fan in all forms and i want horror that makes feel horrified and 2) reading the afterword explained the theme and relevance of the events super well, in my personal experience. the theme is definitely more central to the book than the characters and their development. i can agree with the criticisms towards the lesbian relationship in the first story - i also thought it moved pretty fast when i was reading it, but the afterword (which i don’t usually read in books but VERY glad i did) made it make a lot more sense. i’m a big theme slut and this book gave me lots to think about.  if you find yourself particularly effected by certain topics i would definitely recommend taking into consideration the content warnings with the highest amounts of votes before reading the book - i don’t get super affected by things usually but i was definitely feeling a little wonky after the first story. overall, i think the book is great and i definitely recommend it to people that a) like a horror meant to horrify b) don’t have any particular sensitivity to predominantly gore and c) are open to a book that focuses on theme rather than characters. PLZ READ THE AFTERWORD in all honesty i liked the book perfectly fine before reading it but the afterword did help me appreciate the book a lot more!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Gore

Minor: Suicide and Xenophobia

perth_is's review against another edition

dark tense 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

3.0

it was okay but to be honest, I think this would be way better as a longer story. I like the idea of communicating through emails or chat logs, however was really confused when it ended. I think it really needed to have more because what I was reading was really good. 


Fyi, I read this book in an hour 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy

janey_bones's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

Woah. The wildest story I've read in a while. Grotesque, weird, outlandish. I loved it! The pace, the style, the whole thing was crazy! 🪱

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit

rory_john14's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Medical content, Dementia, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

mr_cain's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

underwhelmingly mediocre. each story had a strong premise and each failed to deliver any kind of interesting, tense, or emotional conclusion. The first two were quite gross--i guess for the shock value?--but weren't scary. Just yucky.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage, Blood, and Vomit

claudiacridge's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Grief

tobibi's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

akane_readsyt's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Self harm, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

charlizardbookboi17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.75

This book was ROUGH but what a story. I was not prepared for that ending in any way, shape or fashion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

deepwebkinz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Racism, Grief, and Abandonment