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Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
56 reviews
little_noel's review against another edition
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
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: Animal death, Body horror, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy
Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Lesbophobia
lizardgod'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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Medical trauma
mhigbee's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
moss_martii's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
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: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, and Medical trauma
rosamaria'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 cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
hannalizzy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
sierrafroggy'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
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Vomit