Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes

Possibly the worst horror book ive ever read. Wattpad creepypasta levels of quality. Scratch that, that's a disservice to wattpad. The characters are sloppily written, changing personalities, goals, beliefs every other second like a schizophrenic war veteran. The settings are lazily written, almost as if they were an afterthought.

And the plot. Christ the plot. A dementia ridden grandmother could write a more coherent plot. The macarbe lesbian internet story has the two women go from just meeting, to forming a slave contract in a matter of pages. Pace as a concept is thrown out the window.

Props to the guy who somehow crucified himself onto a cross without any help. That feat is more impressive then any writing in this book. I've tutored 13 yr olds with better aptitude in writing, and this is published work.

I want my time back >:(

1/10

Horrifying and gross - loved all 3 short stories. New Eric LaRocca fan!

2.5/5That last short story was quintessential Creepshow - super fun. I think all three of these stories were unique & creative, but could have used more time or thought or better editing... Idk. I felt like the cook took bites out of my sandwich before serving it to me.

3.5

I was so thoroughly disappointed with this book. All the stories fell flat, and the writing was just horrible. Each story felt like a first draft making it confusing and quite annoying to get through. Often at points in the stories, I forgot why I was even reading about this or that. The characters are all flat to the point it feels like there are no emotions in this book. We were told how the characters felt but that’s not enough.

The story which is the main title of the book was probably the best of the stories. Even then the jump from somewhat eloquent letters to short DMs was jarring. The wording used was often cringy. The relationship has no build-up and is a straight-to-bastardized version of a BDSM connection. It was less BDSM and more punishment for no reason. I did like the line what have you done today to deserve your eyes. However, the impact of this is lost due to the lack of build-up or real human emotions.

This book was not worth reading though with each story getting worse.

I LOVED it

hate stories exclusively built on STUPID characters, things have...spoke is still a masterpiece tho <3

hate stories exclusively built on STUPID characters, things have...spoke is still a masterpiece tho <3

3,5 stars
It's deeply disturbing and even disgusting at times, but I just couldn't stop reading and devoured it in one sitting. Although the ending of every story felt a little disappointing, the stories themselves were definitely fun to read. Morbid fun

Since there are only three stories I'll give them each a rating.

Things have gotten worse since we last spoke.
This wasn't bad, it was definitely creepy and I could the descent into danger and madness that our character Agnes heads into. I think that end lack a little bit and maybe due to how much it was hyped I expected it to be more disturbing. 4/5

The enchantment.
This one was odd and I don't think I really caught on to what it was saying until I read the afterword. It seemed a bit all over the place. I'd give it a 3.75/5 as I still do enjoy the writing.

You'll find it's like that all over.
Weirdly I think this one might be my favourite it really fit into the good short story formula, he got in he got out and I could easily pick up the ideas the author was exploring, I also think that as a woman the idea of social expectations of being polite is something that really spoke to me. The end wasn't wasn't perfect but overall was good. 4.5/5

So all together I think the collection sits at about 4/5 definitely worth reading, and will give his other works a try.

Another day, another Eric Larocca book I'm not sure if I enjoyed ✨
*Edit to add star reviews to each story. The average of the 3 ratings equals the overall star rating!

The first story I found extremely unnerving and by the end, I felt like I needed to take at least 3 showers to wash off the feeling of reading that story.  4/5 ⭐️

The second story had so much potential to really disturb me, but I was so let down by the direction the story took and the way it ended. 1/5 ⭐️

The final story I found too short to really make a huge impact on me like the title story. I get the direction where they were going, but I wanted a little more of a slow burn. 2/5 ⭐️

things have gotten worse was a reread for me and it is one of my absolute favorite books/stories of all time. the other two stories were new for me and the first one was also a 5 star but the second was more like a 3/3.5 star but because things have gotten worse is a 100/10 for me i'm giving the collection a 4.5

everything eric writes i adore. eric and i just click like that what can i say 

Eric LaRocca has become one of my favorite authors. The first story THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE SINCE WE LAST SPOKE was good but not as good as I remember. It definitely hit as good the second time reading it, I would give the first story 3 stars. The second story THE ENCHANTMENT was my favorite. I absolutely loved this story. The religious tones were so interesting. This story had me hooked, I could not stop reading it. I would give this story 5 stars, I want a full-length novel of this story. The last story YOU'LL FIND IT'S LIKE THAT ALL OVER was really good. It wasn't my favorite but I did not hate it. I would give this story 3.75 stars. Overall, I'm giving this collection 4 stars.

pros:

- the first story was captivating, especially more towards the beginning when agnes and zoe's relationship began to evolve into something sinister
- interesting themes of religious martyrdom, queer loneliness, codependency
- pretty solid foundations for each story's plot, just ended up getting muddled along the way
- i empathized with agnes' character a lot and her desperate search for meaning and affection in the depths of the internet, a place that was far from safe but at least was safe from the glaring judgment of her family and the crushing rationality of the outside world
- gross stuff

cons:

- unclear character motivations and pretty diluted personalities, which was especially prevalent at times in dialogue between characters
- a somewhat repetitive/drab/predictable writing style and story structure
- so many logistic plot holes
- continuous emphasis on women wishing desperately to become pregnant to the point where it almost feels integral to their characterization, which isn't necessarily a con but did feel a bit strange
- the first story has amazing potential to be a full length novel if agnes and zoe's characters were fleshed out more and their relationship was made more complex, but at certain points their dynamic felt superficial and largely undeveloped

This review assumes you have read the book. Otherwise, my recommendation is do not read it.

This book is actual garbage. The writing is absolutely atrocious. LaRocca is an immature author who does not possess the ability to create a character of any substance. Every character lies on one side of a choice while another character is on the opposite side of that choice. There is no nuance at all. “Hey I want to do this” “I don't want to do this” “Okay grr” “Grr” That is the exact scenario LaRocca is limited to in his dialogue interaction. The lack of any driving force behind characters is in part due to the inability of LaRocca to write female characters. Every female character is subject to the stereotypes of hysteria and fickleness. So of course when they manically change their minds for no reason it makes them feel like a marionette for the author puppeteer to dance towards some strange end. His entire effort is spent on working towards some shock purely for the value of shock. There is no compelling story here, no interesting motivation the characters have, only a train chugging for 5 minutes to get to a poorly described destination of grotesquery.


And the destination of the title story is so vague as to be a frustrating nothingness. I literally cannot imagine what this woman is going to do with an apple peeler and a defecated tapeworm. Not because I don't have a capably gross mind, but because nothing makes sense. Is she going to peel the worm? Peel her skin somehow in a helical shape, only to see she's unable to reinsert the tapeworm? Is she going to bake an apple pie in her bathroom? I thought an apropos ending using Chekhov's apple peeler may be Agnes piercing her eyes because she does not deserve them (the repeated motif). But it's an extremely gratuitous stretch to reach that ending.

Ironically, the second ‘misfortune' is such a common and boring trope it is essentially the same level of nothingness. She is a ghost and someone walked through her and now she's trapped in this earthly purgatory. This is the least creative ending anyone could have done with ghosts. Sixth Sense, The Haunting of Bly Manor (The Turn of the Screw), SCOOBY DOO showcase this sort of ending. It is not allegorical, like The House that Jack Built. It's not an insight into a character's mind, like The Shining. It's just a childish trope.

There are many portions that make it impossible to suspend a sense of disbelief. No one posts their life story trying to sell an apple peeler on a LGBTQ forum. A tapeworm can live hooked in the intestinal wall for years. And a baby cannot kick after one month of fetal development. Seriously, some basic cursory research (google searches really) would have gone a long way.

The titular story of this is GREAT! Really captures an unhealthy relationship in the early 2000's However the other two stories were just okay. Would read it again just for the creep factor of the first story.