Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca
48 reviews
jiayuanc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Mental illness, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Sexual content
Minor: Abandonment
friendofdorothea'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? It's complicated
Why was this a sapphic couple? I would think Zoe was actually a man because what woman would do that it almost feels offensive as a lesbian to read this omg Im surprised I didn’t throw up. Also so weird that a man wrote this
I don’t know why anyone would write this but not surprised that it wasn’t a woman that wrote this. Like how did this come into somebody’s head. Ew 🤮🤮🤮
This author needs to go to therapy
Also I may never eat again.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
little_noel's review against another edition
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma
teaselkie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Animal death, and Body horror
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
Minor: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Suicide, and Lesbophobia
lizardteeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
- It's fine I guess? Not worth the hype I saw for it. Read it if you're interested in it but prepare to be disappointed and uncomfortable seeing the characters fit the 'women are seen as violent and sexual playthings' quota.
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Violence, and Torture
cryingalot49'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
2.5
There's a lot about this I liked. Despite this refrain I hear lately against depicting queer people as queer because of the bad things that happened to them, I think it's vital to keep exploring the ways that trauma comes built-in with queerness. Maybe this is an issue for young millennials and Gen Z with more accepting parents, who didn't have to contend with the sexuality tearing their family apart. Agnes is not a lesbian with mommy issues because she's gay. She has mommy issues and seeks out a toxic relationship because her mother unceremoniously and completely cut her off after she came out of the closet. To ignore the ways things like this play out in queer relationships is to erase so much of what queerness is and what queer horror explores best. Stop trying to silence queer horror writers on this front.
I also thought the animal death scenes were amazingly effective. There are some things I almost always find to be manipulative and poorly portrayed in fiction, but in this novella, they're illuminating and unforgettable.
So much of the story's meaningfulness and power fall away as it rockets out of the atmosphere toward its conclusion, though. It seems like LaRocca either ran out of fuel when the relationship takes its worst turn, or the format is inadequate to capture the emotions involved in a relationship like this. What the email-and-messaging format would be really good for is exploring the uncertain boundaries between fantasy and sincerity (the cannibal cop story comes to mind). Were the women both sincere? Was Zoe intentionally manipulative or did she assume they both knew this was fiction, a game? There are rife emotional landscapes to explore here and a whole generation who grew up queer on the internet who can relate, but LaRocca mostly leaves the most fertile ground untilled and the characters fade into the background of an exploitation horror scenario when their presence could have elevated the story far beyond that.
Unlike in the brilliantly visceral, surreal gore from queer writers like Dennis Cooper, LaRocca immediately backs away from the gross-out almost as soon as it's introduced. The finale was laughable to me, as a result. Where Cooper can make even the most gnarly gore feel like a surreal, abstract painting of what's inside his characters' hearts, LaRocca drops his like a silly punchline and shrugs.
Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Violence, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Animal death
mhigbee's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Slavery, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Violence
moss_martii's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, Body horror, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, and Torture
radtastical'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
2.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Child abuse, Child death, and Gore
rosemarianduffy'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
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gore, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Vomit