Book Review: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
Alternate title: Would you still love me if our child was a literal tapeworm?
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke written by Eric LaRocca is a collection of three horror short stories. All three stories are meant to explore how people will do anything for connection.
The first short story is the inspiration for the title. It takes place over a series of emails and text messages between two women, Agnes and Zoe. They begin a toxic relationship completely over email. The relationship spurs out of the blue after Agnes posts a listing to sell her antique apple peeler. Zoe takes advantage of Agnes’s desperation, getting her to do more and more messed up things.
This story was quick but annoying to read. The format with the usernames didn't work at all. I often lost track of who was talking and had to go back and forth to check. It could have been possible to keep the spirit of the story without the email signifiers. In fact, the beginning of the book informs you that it will take place over email and text. After that statement, there’s not much reason to include the usernames.
As for the story itself, I didn’t see much of the point for it. Until I read the afterward by the author, I thought he just wanted to write about people acting crazy and getting abused for the sake of it. The emails didn’t give any background or reasoning behind Agnes and Zoe’s relationship. They went from talking about an apple peeler, to Agnes wanting to carry their unborn worm child forever. Even if it killed her. LaRocca wanted to show the lengths people will go for connection, but the two women didn’t even have a connection to begin with. Maybe that was the point, but it made no sense why she would do all that for someone she had never actually met. I thought Zoe was a serial killer and Agnes was incredibly depressed and stupid. Not a compelling story. Just messed up.
The second short story follows a couple that are acting as hotel caretakers after the death of their son. Before his death, the couple was about to file for divorce. His death brought them back together and made Olive, the wife, desperate for evidence of God and the afterlife. This causes her more and more paranoia.
When I was reading this book, I admit I thought that this story was going to connect back to the first one in some concrete way. I didn’t realize that the book was a collection of short stories. Aspects of the story did call back to a conversation Agnes and Zoe had at one point, but nothing more than that. So if you decide to read this book, which I don’t recommend, keep in mind that the stories aren’t connected. Don’t keep waiting for the first story to make any kind of sense when reading the second story.
This story focused more on the desire for connection with God rather than another person. Olive is so desperate for evidence that God exists, that she keeps reading into things as signs from God. I didn’t particularly like this story either, besides the obvious Shining-vibe it had. I kept reading and thinking, "Okay, what’s the point of all this?".
The last short story was the shortest and the best of them all. It also had a bit of humor to it, which I appreciate. A man agrees to making more and more bets with his neighbor just to avoid seeming rude to him. This feels all too familiar to someone who tends to be a people-pleaser.
All in all, I don’t recommend this book and I don’t want to spend any more time thinking about it. It didn’t bring anything new to the table for me. It just seemed to include gross and messed up things for the sake of being gross and messed up. I like horror. Raw, It Follows, and The Descent are just a few of my favorites. This however, wasn’t it.
Star Rating: 1/5