Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca
43 reviews
alreads420's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Blood, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Child death
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Vomit
courtneypaigea's review
3.75
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Grief, Animal death, Death, and Miscarriage
theebookling's review against another edition
First story was unrealistic with character development and pacing, most notably with how the characters communicated. It had a good start but you get whiplash with how sudden the momentum changes. I think this story definitely had potential and would have made a great standalone novel, allowing the opportunity to expand on the characters and their motivations. The ending left me very confused and I think it was more about shock value here.
Second story was very predictable. There is subtle commentary on religion and the devout here, and I must say I was very curious about the world/current news setup in the first chapter but it unfortunately takes a backseat as we follow a married couple and their trauma. The wife is religious while the husband is what we would say agnostic given the context lol but the story doesn't really do anything different here. Her character development and even the plot was very predictable
Spoiler
(was she being punished for being too devout or wanting to be a mother)Unfortunately, while I hoped for better this was a DNF for me.
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Animal death
akane_shio's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Torture, Abandonment, and Mental illness
Moderate: Medical content, Religious bigotry, Grief, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Vomit
deepwebkinz's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Suicide, Self harm, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Miscarriage
Minor: Racism, Grief, Abandonment, and Body horror
tonis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Miscarriage and Violence
venuscollective's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Spoiler
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.
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Gore, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, and Death
emmdashed's review against another edition
- 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
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:
Spoiler
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."
Graphic: Pregnancy, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Death, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Chronic illness, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infertility, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Miscarriage
Minor: Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts
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.cuteasamuntin's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Grief
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Body horror, Homophobia, Blood, Suicide, and Medical content
Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Vomit, Murder, and Miscarriage
literally_mint'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
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Death, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Violence, Body horror, Infertility, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Sexual content