Reviews with content warning for Gore - Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

The beginning of the book was very intriguing, and I was excited to see where it went. However, it kind of fell short of my expectations.

Short stories are great, but only when they can effectively fit a fully fledged story in a small amount of pages. This book could have been, and should have been longer. I wish the relationship between Zoe and Agnes was more developed.

Plot spoilers:

There could have been a great opportunity to really revel in the depraved, codependent nature of their relationship and build up to the more shocking moments with more instances of weird and horrific acts to prove Agnes’ commitment to Zoe and Zoe’s deranged and manipulative motives. It would have made it a little more believable and shocking that Agnes would eventually go to the lengths she did, and would’ve made Zoe’s revelation more devastating.

Also, Agnes’ overwhelming need to have a baby and making that such an important part of her relationship with Zoe almost immediately kind felt like it came out of nowhere.

I just feel like developing the relationship between the two characters would’ve reinforced the categorization of a “queer horror story” rather than a horror story where the characters happen to be queer.

All that said, I enjoyed the writing style, the premise, and I think the ending would’ve been perfect if the rest of the book was more fleshed out.

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muppetincrisis's review against another edition

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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.

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05olivia15's review against another edition

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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.

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mallory_minerva's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Well that was gross

I know this book is disliked, and I find the criticisms understandable. I do not dispute the realism issues; people don't really email like that. The texting to me seemed fine on the local level however. The progression of the relationship, as well as the relationship with the Tapeworm, seemed most unrealistic, but in some ways the psychological nuance of it was very interesting. I have mixed feelings on that front. I also am unsure about the claim of the author fetishizing lesbians. I didn't pick up on it much myself but I can see why others do.

I honestly found it mostly fun. I read it in one sitting which is rare for me. The characters are good and distinct, and the scenes conveyed through texts and emails are really vivid. I also liked Agnes's tendency to tell anecdotes; a lot of the literary merit is in those moments and I actually do buy that someone would just infodump anecdotes to make a point. I think the online take on an epistolary novel was well done all things considered; this is an epistolary novel and it will read like letters, not emails, and that's fine.

The horror is... The body horror is better than the psychological horror. I did not enjoy the BDSM aspects, and the animal cruelty really felt out of place for both characters and plot-necessitated. The Findom was underexplored but maybe that's a good thing. Zoe places enough emphasis on consent and caution that I didn't really perceive much manipulation. I didn't pick up on it until she self-discloses out of guilt and concern. There's moments where I feel things are getting worse and Agnes is blundering into a bad situation though, which is good psychological horror. The body horror is well-done.

I wanted to read trash after Foucault broke me, and I certainly got it. I get the low average but this book came to me at the right time I guess.

PS: this is the most content warnings I've ever added for a review. I guess I don't do horror much.

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