Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

57 reviews

theoclem7'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

If I’m honest this book was just not really my style of book. But if you are looking for a good horror short story then I would say you should definitely keep this book in mind. Major warning: it’s body horror and pretty graphic. But it definitely took me on a twisted adventure and left me completely speechless by the end. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

msbedelia's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

The only book that's ever given me a stomache. Extremely well-written with so many layers between the lines... But at what cost?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

sidhewitch's review against another edition

3.0

There's a pretty slow start before things ramp up, and then things take a very sharp left turn with one character in particular and from then on it was hard to feel horrified over the sheer stupidity. 

A quick read tho, and with interesting (if extremely literary and not at all realistic) prose. Not a strong recommend but I wouldn't chase anyone off it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

The content warning list is, shockingly, probably not exhaustive. But this isn't a splatter-punk book so take it with a grain of salt if you're used to extreme horror. This is not it, in my opinion.

cecilyroseceillam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This is a book. Very triggering and disgusting about a depraved lesbian relationship. After reading this you will look at Apple peelers, tape worms and meat very differently.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

katelynmill2's review against another edition

dark fast-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

This book has a cool concept and I liked the format. I read this very quickly and reading their emails/messages was intriguing.

Ultimately I couldn’t stomach this book. If I had a stronger stomach, I think I wouldn’t liked this book more.

The meat is what got me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death, Suicide, and Murder

wends_nblw's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I'll say this : while it didn't live to its hype, I really enjoyed it. 

I expected it to be written differently, but it didn't hinder my ability to enjoy the story. I found Agnes and Zoe's relationship to be fascinating alongside Agnes' descent into madness. I do wish there had been an aftermath, or just a longer story. I wish it hadn't gone so fast since I really wanted their relationship to slowly build into horror, but yk. We can't win everything.

All in all, a great story. I'm excited to see similar works by LaRocca. :3c

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Lesbophobia

emmdashed's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

I should have looked at the Content Warnings for this one lol 😬

It's probably not the Grossest Book Ever but it's up there and it features Very Graphic Animal and Child Cruelty/Death. And there are some other really gnarly moments of just nasty stuff. And some cringey sexting. 

Ultimately I am still not sure how I completely feel about this book. It was both extremely easy to read and extremely difficult to read. You want to know what happens and it's so short you can just inhale it but at the same time the images it paints are disturbing and I found myself just really bummed and grossed out. I think it crosses the line at points into being 2 Edgy 4 U so like.... that's certainly a choice. I found myself wondering what is the point what are we saying why this story. But also I read the whole thing so ??? 

I think it could either have been longer so we could get more into the characters and why they behaved the way they did. Or it could have been shorter and excised some of the unnecessary anecdotes (like honestly the Little Christ and the Priest and the Cat moments added literally nothing apart from being ~edgy and disturbing ooooo~). The length that it was was just awkward. 

Some more spoiler heavy thoughts below: 

I honestly could somewhat buy Agnes' immediate devotion to Zoe. It was 0-100 real fast, but it seemed like she was the victim of a lot of emotional abuse in the past, even more than she described. Unfortunately that kind of trauma sometimes leads victims to unintentionally attach themselves to more abusers. (This is not trying to victim blame, abuse is a fucked up cycle that can ruin lives). It almost felt like a Cult Initiation story with this vulnerable woman being caught by this leader and the mentality/lifestyle Zoe offered her?? Not sure where I'm going with it but ??? 

 I was more bothered by the speed at which the Tapeworm grew like... it takes weeks not days. Especially for them to get that big. But maybe I'm just pedantic. 

Also.... I feel bad for Agnes' roommate while all this nonsense is going on like. Your roommate is keeping rotting meat and eating it like that would stink up the house at the very least. Besides all the other weird behavior lol.

TLDR: idk this was a weird one and I can't say if it's good or bad. Bummed me out but I've been thinking about it for days. Blades of Glory says it best. 
"Nobody knows what it means but it's provocative. It's gets the people going." 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Not sure about the severity ratings but I tried to put as many of these as I can. I cannot stress enough that this book gets r o u g h. The animal and child death stood out particularly to me but other bits might bother other people.

sweetpea4's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia, Vomit, and Lesbophobia

itszosia's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Vomit