Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

64 reviews

octagon's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Homophobia

avajlw's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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? Yes

3.0

i really wanted to like it, read it in two short sittings. unfortunately we didnt really get to see any character depth. it felt rushed and that it relied more heavily on shock value and visceral descriptions of gore than complex horror 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Medical content, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

marcostorin's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

• 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content and Kidnapping

kharv294's review against another edition

dark 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

0.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

05olivia15's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

DO NOT READ THIS.

Yes, I gave it 4 stars.  But I do not recommend anyone read this book ever.

This book made me physically nauseous to read.  I read this whole book in a day because I knew if I set it down and allowed myself to think about picking it up again, I wouldn't have the stomach to do it.

An absolutely fucked early 2000s era epistolary novel, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke chronicles the emails and instant message logs between Zoe and Agnes who meet on a craigslist-esque LGBT forum.  Agnes is estranged from her family, underemployed, and financially screwed.  Zoe is mysterious, wealthy, and has a penchant for cruelty.  What follows is a train wreck that I wished I could look away from the entire time.

The horror of this book comes from 2 fronts: The first and most obvious is the body horror that basically shows up from the very beginning of the book.  I'm not going to quote anything or go into detail, but trust me, it's foul.  

The second comes from the eery-sick feeling that this could have happened to the friends I knew as teenagers.  That this cautionary tale was narrowly avoided through luck rather than skill.  Being an emotional vulnerable queer with an unmonitored internet connection is billed as something empowering, a way to find community outside of your shitty hometown, to give you hope for a future that you can see happening in a city near you.  But it can also lead you to places like this.  Lonely corners of the internet where people with no power in their real lives decide to create some by dominating someone even weaker, someone hundreds of miles away.  The real fear of this novel came from the lingering thought that had a charismatic Zoe found me in cyberspace when I was at my most vulnerable and wrote me poetry about apple peelers and undeserving eyes, I could have ended up an Agnes too-- consumed from the outside in.

The lesson of this book for me (if there even is one) is about how oftentimes victims and perpetrators have more in common than we are comfortable admitting.  That desperate and lonely people are just as prone to hurt each other as they are to lift each other up.  That words on a computer screen can be just as persuasive as those you hear from people in real life.  That people will, unfortunately, do anything for love.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, and Pregnancy

m0onb3am's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

unsettling; ended abruptly but i can't tell if that adds or detracts.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Mental illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt

kamxoxo's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Vomit

cloud_z's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

---

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

missgrangerr's review against another edition

Due to the animal abuse, mental abuse, and overall writing of this novella I had to put it down. Just not for me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Self harm