A review by minimicropup
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Mood Reading Match-Up:
  • Bizarro, speculative, satirical threaded with low key, suggestive horror
  • Hits of heavy, sad, macabre horror and exploring the effects of that trauma in symbolic prose
  • No plot just vibes-ish, snapshot of life drama with polarizing experiences and themes
  • Eclectic mixes of short/novella style stories
 
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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
 
🎬 Tale-Telling: The writing throughout was mesmerizing. There was a rhythm to the words that made me eager to discover what would happen next. Even when the stories seemed to wander into the abstract, the prose held my attention without being distracting or seeming fake. It didn’t feel pretentious, just…different and literary?  
 
🔥 Fuel:
1: My favourite and sits perfectly in the realm of realistically skewing nostalgia. For those millennials who grew up with the internet, this isn’t so far-fetched. Pretentious people writing long-winded weirdness was like, the entirety of late ‘90s/early aughts discussions on websites anyone could make and hardly anyone would ever find 😅. And for the younger reader wondering why anyone would even interact with the giant red flag these people were…think of Catfish fully unhinged. 
2:  With its echoes of "The Shining," it had an atmosphere and a deep, unsettling vibe that carries the narrative far, even if the ending leaves you scratching your head and feeling insecure about clues you might have missed (or was that just me?)
3:  While not hitting the same high notes, still offered its own unique flavor.
 
Random Thoughts
🤓 What worked: Most of these tales were suggestive, symbolic horror more Kafkaesque nightmare than gory spectacles. It was the kind of horror that sometimes had shock value but mainly aimed to unsettle through the absurd, the satirical, and the downright bizarre. The collection might not be for those seeking straightforward or gory scares; instead, it was a deeper, more introspective form of unease and existential dread.
🫠 What didn’t: Since they're so different, not every story in this collection may hit the mark for every reader. Those who like 1 may dislike 3...those who love 3 likely dislike 1 etc.
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Content Heads-Up:
1: Food horror. Sexual content (brief, self). Animal cruelty and torture (wildlife
salamanders
). Financial insecurity. Body horror. Parental rejection (of adult child). Unemployment.
2: Divorce/separation. Suicide. Delusions. Death. Murder. Sexual content (consentual, brief). Religious/spiritual horror (death, afterlife, punishment). Parental rejection (of adult child). Infidelity. Loss of a child. Miscarriage (brief description on page). Loss of a spouse. Grief. 
3: Racism (racist character opinion; off page). Gambling. 
 
Rep:
1: Lesbian. Ambiguous gender and sexual identities. 
2: Heterosexual. Cisgender and ambiguous gender identities. 
3: Gay. Cisgender. 
 
👀 Format: Kobo Plus
 
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