Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

339 reviews

cat_astrophicallybookish's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicide, and Gaslighting

tinyjude's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

1.0

Never read this after having a meal!!!

I had read some vague stuff about how disturbing this book could be, but I was definitely not prepared for whatever the fck this was. I am beyond disgusted. I can enjoy horrible fictional stories but this seems to be out of my taste completely. I just felt so sick and ready to throw up while reading it.

I can understand how someone in such a vulnerable state can go down that route and spiral so fast but the stories (like the baby jesus christ I'M PRAYING THIS NEVER HAPPENED IN REAL LIFE WTF WTF WTF) where way too much for me and too fast. The relationship barely develops, suddenly the convo turns "sexy" but feels more like 50 shades of grey bad ff (eugh) and then THAT. I won't spoil but, just, NO.

The ending was confusing but reading some theories about the cover, I got my horrifying answer 😳 100% not for me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

clovetra'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? It's complicated

4.0

i’m sitting here cackling because what in the actual fuck did i just read. i’m crying from laughter right here. does that say something deeper about my psyche at the moment? probably. was this incredibly silly goofy? yes!!!!!

my only real gripe is this is solely related to one of my triggers. now i’m fine with gore in my horror. hell i’ll watch horror movies with gore. but you bring bugs into My Horror??????? ohh i lose my mind. bugs have always been an insane trigger for me. i am always afraid bugs are in my ears. i was told once that biting your nails gives you pinworms and as a girlie with dermatillomania i had a panic attack over that thought. once i woke up in my bed to an earwig next to me and now i am always paranoid ill wake up and an earwig is in my bed. needless to say, a bitch doesn’t like bugs!!!!! so i’ll say this book really did have me!!!!! 

i don’t know what you’d call this book but it wasn’t really… horror? idk i’d say it’s more like psychological thriller. but also i realise im incredibly desensitised to weird shit so. 

i wish there was more time to expand on the fucked up relationship between these two but also this is a novella so. i’m not mad.

the ending is lowkey kinda funny? not funny haha funny goofy. i liked the way the ending brought us all the way to the beginning as well. nice little tie in.

i feel like im going to be severely judged for actually saying i had a good time. i cant say i enjoyed myself but lowkey i don’t think that’s the point. i had a good time. i felt like agnes reading this — enjoying it but not really but kind of but hating it but loving it. yeah. this isn’t a book ur meant to love. it’s so fuckjng insane. but i liked it! i’m not mad at it! i can also understand why everyone i know of either thinks this is mediocre or horrible! i am in the minority! long live the apple peeler and finneas! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Homophobia

toadscreams's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Blood

calhudak's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Self harm, Religious bigotry, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Body horror, Infertility, and Racism

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

brynniek'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, and Excrement

muppetincrisis'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a read pretty far outside of my comfort zone. It is an incredibly well executed depiction of so many things - love, despair, obsession, distinction and disgust. I think some of the themes were easier for me to tolerate than usual because I have a personal history with abusive and manipulative queer relationships and have experienced severe manipulation. However, some of the more graphic descriptions

(primarily the portion about preparing and eating the spoiled meat to contract the parasite)

I had to skim over because they were too much to stomach. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Lesbophobia

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