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jayhazey's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
3.5
Disturbing. Delightful. I liked the themes here
lemonadelizard's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
readingwithcharliexoxo's review against another edition
3.5
Things have, indeed, gotten worse since we last spoke.
The pork description???? Absolute sickening, I never want to look at pork again.
The transition between talking about family trauma revolving around the apple cutter to a Master/Slave BDSM contract was so jarring, I had to go back and reread to make sure I hadn't missed a few pages.
It's a good book for an intense shock factor, but some warnings (especially for animal cruelty and death) would be nice, but I'd forgotten I found this in a fucked up book recommendations so that's my own fault.
The pork description???? Absolute sickening, I never want to look at pork again.
The transition between talking about family trauma revolving around the apple cutter to a Master/Slave BDSM contract was so jarring, I had to go back and reread to make sure I hadn't missed a few pages.
It's a good book for an intense shock factor, but some warnings (especially for animal cruelty and death) would be nice, but I'd forgotten I found this in a fucked up book recommendations so that's my own fault.
pbandjane_library's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Emotional abuse
sophhes's review against another edition
fast-paced
1.0
finished this halfway couldn’t deal with whatever that was
hannahkat144's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tcgarback's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Critical Score: B-
Personal Score: B
Not that bad, honestly. Probably my favorite thing I’ve read from LaRocca thus far. I still don’t love their writing style, and their stories are always thematically hard to get a hold of (I suspect that’s because he’s not writing it with clear intentions; it’s about vibes and trying to disturb readers while delivering purple prose). But these three pieces are quite entertaining.
I had read the title story in its standalone publication some years ago and had very mixed feelings on it. I still do. While I love how fast and dark it is, and the format is fun, the characters speak so pretentiously (the way that LaRocca writes), so it all felt a bit silly. It also felt unrealistic how quickly the relationship developed? Idk, I can let that slide.
What I’m hung up on is what LaRocca is trying to say about this kind of fetish. Or, and I think this is it, they’re not trying to outright comment on it; it’s not supposed to be that deep. The point is obsession, not the master/slave thing itself. If I can get over this, then I like the story—even if (and I remember writing this in my original review) it’s really not that f’ed up as people makes it out to be. Everyone’s a prude.
“The Enchantment” gets better and better as it goes, even if the ending is sort of lazy.
“You’ll Find It’s That Way All Over” feels so random and thematically…weird. Idk how to explain it. Like it’s getting at something pretty deep, but it’s not narratively doing enough to get there, or evoking it in the right way for it to really hit home. So the story ends up feeling underdeveloped? But I did like this one overall.
Strangely, I’m unsure of how I’d rank these three. Depending on how I’m looking at it, I’d rank them in all different orders.
Let’s say in terms of overall impression on me, I’d rank them like this:
“THGWSLS”
“YFITWAO”
“The Enchantment”
But they’re all pretty on par with one another; there is no sore thumb.
Critical Score: B-
Personal Score: B
Not that bad, honestly. Probably my favorite thing I’ve read from LaRocca thus far. I still don’t love their writing style, and their stories are always thematically hard to get a hold of (I suspect that’s because he’s not writing it with clear intentions; it’s about vibes and trying to disturb readers while delivering purple prose). But these three pieces are quite entertaining.
I had read the title story in its standalone publication some years ago and had very mixed feelings on it. I still do. While I love how fast and dark it is, and the format is fun, the characters speak so pretentiously (the way that LaRocca writes), so it all felt a bit silly. It also felt unrealistic how quickly the relationship developed? Idk, I can let that slide.
What I’m hung up on is what LaRocca is trying to say about this kind of fetish. Or, and I think this is it, they’re not trying to outright comment on it; it’s not supposed to be that deep. The point is obsession, not the master/slave thing itself. If I can get over this, then I like the story—even if (and I remember writing this in my original review) it’s really not that f’ed up as people makes it out to be. Everyone’s a prude.
“The Enchantment” gets better and better as it goes, even if the ending is sort of lazy.
“You’ll Find It’s That Way All Over” feels so random and thematically…weird. Idk how to explain it. Like it’s getting at something pretty deep, but it’s not narratively doing enough to get there, or evoking it in the right way for it to really hit home. So the story ends up feeling underdeveloped? But I did like this one overall.
Strangely, I’m unsure of how I’d rank these three. Depending on how I’m looking at it, I’d rank them in all different orders.
Let’s say in terms of overall impression on me, I’d rank them like this:
“THGWSLS”
“YFITWAO”
“The Enchantment”
But they’re all pretty on par with one another; there is no sore thumb.