![]() I have a few very minor qualms with the audio direction (the repetition of the characters full email handles got a bit tedious and it might have been nice to switch to a shorthand at some point) but this didn't dampen my enjoyment of the story. Each character had a distinct voice (important when reciting IM conversations without interrupting to state each character's screen name) that fit how I imagined the characters. Winkel's performance was subtle and effective. I found myself thinking "This does not bode well at ALL and I'm not sure I want to know where this will lead" at several points and yet, despite my anxiety, I found myself unable to tear myself away until I had swallowed every last bite. There is excellent use of atmosphere and ominous foreshadowing throughout. But they have an aspect of uncanniness too, which I believe serves the story. They are firmly rooted in reality, enough to empathize with their plight and to make you feel unsettled by the things they get themselves into. Do these feel like real people? Perhaps not, but that's ok! To me, they feel more like hyper-real, larger-than-life archetypes, condensed and concentrated versions of people you've probably encountered before (online or IRL). I thought the pacing was excellent, and the characters played well off of each other. It's an acquired taste, and not for the weak of stomach (fans of Takashi Miike's AUDITION will be familiar with the flavor profile), but for those who enjoy feeling a little nauseated after finishing a story, it's well worth a listen. is a succinct, bite-sized serving of psychological horror full of complex flavor and texture. Overall, weird and surreal experience and definitely not worth it. What person would and email like the ones sent in this book. ![]() Like I get the hopelessness Agatha is feeling but does have to pull out a weird horror backstory to explain her feelings instead of just saying ‘hey I’m not okay’ They don’t talk like real people. It’s a essentially trauma porn as another reviewer put it, and not indicative of an actual relationship between two women. I am not implying it should’ve been happy relationship or it’s bad. Dislikes: The relationship between the leads is a hollow representation of a queer relationship. The set up was intriguing, and I like how the story is laid out using the messages between the two main characters. ![]() Highly recommended.I’ll my likes out of the way (It’s faster) The voice actress was good, and clearly trying her best. It would have been easy to try and mirror the style of the first novella, but instead the author has provided two deeply thoughtful, memorable, and intriguing stories that will take readers by surprise and leave them thinking. The sense one gets from reading all three is of a strong literary voice with range. This one is full of twists and turns, but again, not the swan dive into emotional discomfort you get from “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke,” or the author’s other novella, “You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood.” It is filled with clever tests and conversation with underlying meaning. His attempt to befriend that neighbor politely (if not all that sincerely) lands him in a very strange place, and an even stranger state of mind. The protagonist of this story is caught in an unhealthy relationship – his husband is a racist, and his neighbor is foreign, and stand-offish. ![]() People want to be part of a bigger whole, to ‘get along,’ and be accepted. The final story of the three, “You’ll Find it’s Like that all Over,” has a similar theme, but again, from a new angle. This new collection adds two vastly different tales to that novella, “The Enchantment,” a story of yearning for an empty faith, isolation, and again, desperation, as a lonely woman fights the world, her husband, and other powers for something she can’t quite understand, but craves with all her soul… if she has one? This story is dark in different way from the first, much more sedate in its delivery, which makes the darkness insidiously sneaky. LaRocca, of course, takes it to its extreme, and just far enough beyond that extreme to be certain you will never forget to be certain you have done all that you can to earn your eyes. It’s also a mirror of the darker truth that this sort of shared devotion is rare, and often fleeting. On the surface, it’s a story of manipulation and desperation, but as is the case with most fiction based on deeper themes, it’s a microcosm of the human desire to be recognized, and loved, to please another and have them reciprocate. I listened to the audiobook edition, and, despite the odd formatting, a story told through private messages and chat room conversations, that performance was, at first odd and casual, and then spiraled into a very unexpected, very dark place. The original novella release of Eric LaRocca’s “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke,” was my first experience of the author.
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