Book Review: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (2021) - Eric LaRocca


I said on twitter and I'll say it here, I think Eric LaRocca is a welcome, talented addition to the horror indie scene and I can't wait to see what is next. 

So "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke" is a pretty evocative title to me. It brings together many images in my head and I'll say that the actual novella slightly lives up to these images. A similar title and I've seen other people make this comparison, that evokes similar feelings and images for me is "I'm Thinking of Ending Things", which is on my To-Read docket and will be done fairly soon.

As for THGWSWLS it takes place in the year 2000, at the dawn of the internet age. At the heart of the novel are two LBTQ lesbian characters, Agnes and Zoe and their interactions an LBGT message board and then subsequently a chat program similar to AOL Instant Messenger or Yahoo Messenger, though I don't think it's ever specified which, could be wrong on that. The story is told in an epistolary manner, through the two characters e-mails and chat logs and I'm just here for all of that. That was my life, that was the way I met the person who is now my wife and how we communicated for almost twelve years.

I think the novella is really well written, I think it has some disturbing imagery that a day later I cannot get out of my head and am hopeful a film adaptation is eventually made so I can see that imagery on screen. The only small critique I personally have, though I agree with some other critiques, is that the novella format hurts the story, things feel like they are happening quicker than they should and I think an expansion of the story would help not only flesh out the characters, but make the horrific moments hit harder when they do happen. Don't necessarily feel like it's a bad critique to point out that I just wanted more, haha.

So for me, pretty great debut novel and can't wait to see what is next!

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