As always, UA-cam, in their heroic quest to protect us from naughty words, has deleted quite a few comments from this video for containing the terrible, terrible “Q-word.” If you left me a comment and don’t see it anymore: I NEVER delete comments. UA-cam is just stupid.
I have to agree with your opinion. The body horror elements were great. The format was enjoyable (I’m currently trying to find more horror novels written similarly to this). Definitely could have been a lot longer. The length could have given more insight to the relationship and the the decline of Agnes’ mental health. I also would have liked to learn more about Zoe’s character. I feel like we learned nothing about her to the point where it felt like she wasn’t even who she said she was. Maybe not even a woman? Anyway, loved the review. Keep it up!
I have some suggestions for similarly styled (and in my opinion, better) horror novels: The Sluts by Dennis Cooper (which LaRocca named as an “inspiration,” though I say “ripped off”) Amygdalatropolis by BR Yeager Yeah, I would’ve enjoyed that kind of ambiguity around Zoe’s character, had it not been for the fact that the first chapter literally spoils all that mystery by telling you Zoe is real and under police investigation. What was the “true crime” aspect for? It didn’t do anything. So many misfires from this little novella. Quite a shame. All the same, thank you for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it.
I was underwhelmed, too. I was expecting to learn that it was a catfishing situation. That we'd learn that not only was Zoe lying about her motives, but about her entire identity. Zoe makes no mention of being a lesbian until Agnes reveals it about herself, for example. There's an opportunity for a reveal that the reason these two women so coincidentally had so much in common is because one of them is just lying and stringing the other along. I was expecting to find out that Zoe wasn't gay, and maybe not even a woman. That to me would have been more disturbing than the tapeworm.
You’ve really touched upon my main beef with this book: It feels incomplete! It sets up so many things that never go anywhere. At the beginning, we learn Zoe is under police investigation, and everything’s presented as an investigative piece, so we know Zoe is real and that is her real name, etc., which really killed a lot of the intrigue and possibilities right at the first page. But I did want more play with the format, more disquiet building around the omitted passages (which the author really stops referencing altogether at the halfway point). We never even get why anyone’s interested in exploring this crime. It sets us up with this “found footage” framing narrative that’s just there to make you go “OMG IT WAS REAL!” I did read on the acknowledgments that LaRocca wrote this in a span of five days, intoxicated by inspiration, and it really reads that way: A flurry of ideas, a number of threads growing and slithering about, but they’re just excreted on paper and never given proper form. Such a disappointment.
I feel like much of the horror comes from having seen the dark sides of kink and online relationships, the way things are set up gradually are actually very close to grooming and abuse situations that are unfortunately very common online I also think the vague nature of the story and all the key details that are left out contribute to the horror greatly but the very fast jump into the ending and the length hold it back a bit This book is begging to be fleshed out properly or adapted
I can see where you’re coming from! Personally, everything just felt dreadfully unexplored, and has been done in much more masterful ways by other authors (The Sluts by Dennis Cooper, which this book borrowed heavily from, is the true masterpiece on the subject matter, in my eyes). The length was definitely a detriment, but I also felt that a flurry of other choices were extremely flawed: Why introduce it as true crime and a play with form and then never utilize those tools again? Why ruin the mystery around Zoe by telling us from the get-go that she IS real and under police investigation? Baffling choices…
I must say, as enjoyable as it is hearing you review books you enjoyed, it was an absolute delight watching you tear a book to shreds for once-in a laundry room, no less! This video was incredible.
I was so excited to read this book (purely because of the cover art tbh) but it was such a letdown, I wish the author had at least spent more time on it. Totally agree with everything you've said here
I'm one of those people who didn't enjoy it, though - I'm not someone who reads very shocking stuff, so I gave this book an extra star because of the shock value. But I agree with everything you said, and have a couple of other points to add which I've seen people mention somewhat but not entirely. 1. The shortness of the book went against it in the sense that we never got a chance to relate to the characters, or even to root for/against their relationship - everything happened way too quickly. And if I can't relate to a character, I won't be able to empathise with the horror they're going through. 2. Except that...was Agnes going through 'horror'? Like you said, the tapeworm thing was so ridiculous that it made me laugh, but also the fact that Agnes was fully enjoying her "pregnancy" took away from the horror factor. Like, I was thinking, if this is your kink then you do you girl! Yes it was a form of self-harm and madness, I get that, but the pure joy she felt just made it difficult for me to feel too horrified. 3. I know that a lot of people have criticized the depiction of q-ness in this book, but I'd like to additionally say that the general depiction of "woman obsessed with motherhood to go to crazy extremes for it" trope was also offensive. It's a common trope we see in thrillers usually, and it perpetuates the idea that some women gain a sense of worth only through pregnancy/childbearing/child-stealing etc - they just desperately need a child under any circumstances. I feel the horror of this book really draws on that tired trope, and that annoyed me. All in all, I feel that the author had a great premise and format, but didn't execute them well at all. What a waste of a good idea.
Thank you for your comment! Obviously, I agree with your points, and did think that this book being called “entirely original” was baffling, since a lot of it felt very derivative, and like it drew from tired tropes, and just wormed its way towards an ending that felt ridiculous and unsatisfactory. There’s much better transgressive and shocking fiction out there, I assure you! And yes, the motherhood aspect of it was a definite miss.
I'm so glad I found someone who thought it was as bad as I thought it was. Really wish it didn't have such a gross portrayal of lesbians. I would've liked it a lot more if it wasn't like that. Also good video I'll be watching a lot more of your channel. 👍
Glad you enjoyed the video! Thank you for watching! Yes, it was quite an underwhelming book with not much importance to add to the subject matter it takes on. Some parts did feel a little exploitative.
Agreed. A horror story combined with LGBTQ+ themes does have potential, but I wish it could’ve actually been written by a woman (especially a queer one).
I agree with everything you said!! I really expected so much more from this one, I was disappointed that it didn’t give me what I wanted. It went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and didn’t really care for. The tapeworm thing was just so odd, I feel like the only part that was “gross” was the meat part and that’s just because I hate food related things. 🤢
I once more recommend The Sluts by Dennis Cooper for you to see the true genius that a form such as this novel’s can really explore. There were definitely horrific moments, but they felt so lackluster in how underdeveloped and brief they were. Nothing lingered, nothing lasted. It was like a dim firework in book form!
This is honestly the funniest video you’ve ever made without even trying to. I laughed hysterically at various points. I guess i won’t be reading this one! So funny that you mention why you think this book is trendy. I was also thinking of reading it purely because of the book cover. That’s how they get you!
And twitterverse were falling all over for this book, people like Ross Jeffery (author), saying it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hard Pass for me.
Always love your intros/set ups for each video. The absurdity of the apple peeler had me laughing, the blender comment had me rolling. I was a “maybe” on this book and now I think I’ll give it a pass. Thanks as always for giving us thoughtful, intelligent, engaging content!
Thank you so much, Stacy! I’m glad you found my review entertaining and informative! I always say, what didn’t work for me may work for someone else, and vice versa, but if you’re already iffy about this title, I’d say don’t waste your time.
Your review cracked me up. I read this a while ago after randomly seeing it on Kindle and thought the cover looked cool, and the title sounded promising. I love the concept - creepy abusive manipulative internet stuff is definitely one of my jams but, this just fell so flat. The whole end bit was so silly and just the escalation was way too quick. The protagonist just seemed to go from somewhat lonely to completely unhinged in such a short space of time, it made no sense.
@@PlaguedbyVisions I'm putting it on my list, thanks for the recommendation! You actually reminded me of Dennis Cooper which was such a brain relief because I read one of his books YEARS ago (I think Closer) and I couldn't remember who wrote it or anything other than some horrible details I wasn't about to Google 😂
@@PlaguedbyVisions 😂I love how 'even worse' is an endorsement in this case. I'll add them all to my list. Closer (I think it was that anyway) was definitely one of those books I read when I was probably too young roaming around the library on Friday nights (damn I was a cool kid) in those sections not meant for me and it's stuck with me ever since. Look forward to checking out the whole George Miles cycle!
😂😂😂! But you know… It’s not so much the content that bothered me (Grindr writes horror stories by itself), but the execution felt trite. I just feel like I’ve read stuff like this on r/nosleep like 30 times lol.
As someone who loves absurdist and existentialists literature, I agree with you !! I felt like this book was half baked and under cooked, I felt like even there was little to no tone or characterisation with both the characters ! However I do like the way it highlights of how the internet and messaging platforms can suck one’s soul, and forum their whole entire identity around a stranger from the internet. But like The author could have gone so crazy with that, and I feel like I would have rather eaten that raw piece of meat instead of listening to a lady talk about her tape worm love child.
I thought the book was incredibly well done. I wouldn’t have wanted it any longer. There’s a mystique about the relationship being as short as it is and being solely online. And at least in my experience, this doesn’t seem so far-fetched, both in the realm of instant online obsession and instant queer relationships that move into serious territory quickly. It’s a horror book, so I get that the tropes are going to be more extreme. And here, I felt like they were merited, in illustrating the decline of mental health or in playing with the darker side of fantasies. With a longer narrative, I feel like it would’ve tried to explain away the insanity. But that’s the thing: sometimes you just meet crazy people, and sometimes bad luck just fucks up your life. To me, that’s way more horrific. And given the beautiful, florid emails exchanged between the two, it reads as somewhat tragic, a case where there were no obvious signs of mania at first. (Even though, if I asked someone to do those things with a salamander, I’d expect anyone who complied to be off-kilter. And if I did any of the things that the dom asked me, I’d know that I was messed up.) I dunno, it just worked for me. And because it’s so short, there was very little risk for me as a reader. I’m willing to risk more on a story that takes an hour or two of my time rather than a novel that asks days of me. This isn’t your perspective, but I’ve read reviews that say that a man shouldn’t have written a lesbian relationship, and I think that’s a weird take. If any of us want representation, we have to be willing to see it in bad places too. But as you said, there’s nothing really insightful about queerness here. The characters happen to be queer. And I actually like that. Too many authors sorta beat queerness over your head or portray it in really far-fetched and idealistic ways. So, the queerness wasn’t a downside, and it was barely an upside.
So it’s now been close to a year since I read this and frankly I’ve mostly forgotten it already, so forgive me if I get anything wrong: Firstly, I’m happy that this worked for you! And as I have always said to people here in the comments and elsewhere: It is definitely something one should try for themselves, given its polarizing nature. It’s obviously worked for many, many people! I think what mostly didn’t work for me was the scatterbrained nature of its elements. As I mentioned, it starts out as this true crime investigation, injects and insists on a formatting that is repeated through and through, so there’s the pretense that this setup and era it’s set in will be important, but it really isn’t. I think that killed a lot of the feverish delirium that you yourself felt. I wasn’t thinking about the madness in the story so much as constantly haunted by that shabby and generic Criminal Minds note it starts with. Full admittance, I also read this after reading Dennis Cooper’s The Sluts and BR Yeager’s Amygdalatropolis, so maybe I’d simply just been exposed to books that use the same format (which I believe this book lifted directly from Cooper’s book) but, in my opinion, in a more effective way. I also think this was a case of unmet expectations, and most of this review was in response to comments I’d heard from people who recommended it. People recommended it to me as one of the most gruesome and disgusting books ever. I think the violence and transgression were definitely the most entertaining parts, but even those missed a mark for me, a balance between this weird self-importance they are given in the story contrasted with how humorously and ridiculously bizarro it gets. Again, just up to taste. As for the element of q*eerness in it, certainly I don’t always expect an uplifting or life-altering message when I read a story like this, but again, this was recommended to me as an incredibly powerful and soul-moving story about the q*eer experience, and of course I… respectfully disagree. 😂 People can be fucked up and twisted and q*eer and have the two be unrelated (Poppy Z. Brite’s Exquisite Corpse is one of my favorites on these grounds), but this definitely, more than anything, felt very derivative and generic in terms of these mixtures of BDSM, q*eer love and obsession, and how fucked up people on the internet are. I don’y know. Maybe my expectations were too high. Had I just picked it up blindly, I think I would’ve liked it more, and without the avalanche of hype it got from TikTok. That’s mostly why I prefer reading older books with zero hype behind them. Anyway, excuse the super long comment! But I will say, the fact that this still makes for discussion so much time later I’d definitely call a merit!
@@PlaguedbyVisions I love your channel and your opinions. And I think you're dead-on. Honestly. Toward the end of the video whenever you say what you might've done as the author, it really showed me how this story could've been so much better. And I think you're right about it how it may be trauma bait. I don't read much of this kind of literature (but I do research in related areas). So, the effects of the shock were probably heightened by that. Also, your remarks on the tapeworm were hilarious. And I guess I kinda did have something somewhat cheesy, but nonetheless disturbing, in mind (sorta like the famous dream scene in 1986 The Fly). Lastly, and I think this would deeply affect my opinion of the story, I wonder how the author feels about this. If the author is at all pretentious about what they've accomplished here, I just wouldn't buy it, and the story would annoy me. Maybe I took this as sorta well-made camp, like Midsommar. I've successfully avoided Ari Aster interviews so far, mostly out of fear that his pretenses might ruin the films for me. Expectations aren't flesh and blood things, but damn can they deliver crushing blows. In case you need another video idea: Maybe you can make a video of a few books that you think are overhyped by new readers to dark/weird/gory literature, and you can give a few recommendations of what to read instead or what to read to further explore the same themes. Maybe books like Things Have Gotten Worse are kinda gateway books and have the most impact for newbies. But maybe the newbies could use a bit of direction. So, you wouldn't have to throw shade, but you could say that your recommendations explore things in deeper ways.
"I sell blenders on Grindr from time to time" - one of the funniest things I've heard in a while. This sounds like a try-hard book with shock for the sake of shock - no real rhyme or reason to it. It sounds a bit like gay 5SOG but with tapeworms, honestly. Did one of them rant about their inner godess? Always a great review from you, Juan.
Definitely trying too hard to shock, trying too hard to be deep, and failing at both. Like wanting to have your cake and eating it, too, but instead you drop your cake into a meat grinder. And I’m currently laughing hysterically. THEY DO! THE MAIN CHARACTER RANTS ABOUT BEING REBORN INTO A GODDESS AT ONE POINT, ABOUT BECOMING A FREE AND FIERCE GODDESS! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY GUESSED THAT CORRECTLY. 💀💀💀
Hey Juan, I’m currently watching all your videos and I love the selections you provide! I fell victim to the booktok recommendations for horror books and bought this book for my spooky birthday month. I will have to agree that this book has a great premise that left me wanting more and although it was grotesque and nauseating at times it didn’t hold up any weight. I just wish the story went further and the timeline was longer to make it more believable and that the characters were more fleshed out. I seen a previous comment that mentioned it reads like a creepy pasta and it really does in the pace and one dimensionalness of the characters. The cover is hella nice though so that’s the primary reason it’s still in my bookshelf.
Hey! Thank you so much for the support! Yes, I’m sure BookTok has good recommendations as well, but for the most part it just seems to be whatever’s “trending.” Sadly, I don’t know what else I can add about the book since being honest I’ve largely forgotten it already. But I will say, there’s definitely shorter tales with little characterization that are still compelling and powerful, but this wasn’t one of them.
I see this book as a critique on toxic relationship dynamics (a morbid one at that) rather than a story you can indulge into. I did think the relationship escalated very quickly and was a bit confused at first, but I think ultimately the author just wanted to convey a point through metaphors and gore imagery. I think they did a decent job at that, it had me thinking and I even found myself resonating with the relationship dynamic the characters had (minus the salamander and tapeworm..and whatever else). When a book has me contemplating things then I know it did a good job, at least for me personally. Overall I enjoyed it.
I definitely don’t mind stories that are mostly meant to be allegorical, and I can see what was being attempted here, of course. I think the biggest thing for me was having read similar but, in my opinion, better executed works that came years before this one. Of course, this book was highly loved and appreciated for the reasons you described. I don’t deny it that influence!
I have a question about books tho. If Eric LaRocca from a hypothetical standpoint didn't like how the book was written and wanted to rewrite and rerelease that would it be possible?
I really appricated the concept of the book and the format but the best part of the book was the cover. When I saw "Cronenberg" referenced I figured there would be some on page body horror so that was pretty disappointing. Great review!
I, too, kept waiting for some significant dematerialization, some evaporating flesh, some eczema-anything! The book cover is admittedly great. It caught my eye, which, as I said, is my suspicion as to why this book is becoming a bestseller. It’s a great book to pose with on social media!
I absolutely agree with everything that you said, I gave it 2stars just because I was quite engaged by the symbolic nature of apple and loss of inocence too but then it was all thrash,it didn't leaded to anything and after that nothing made sense at all(don't get me wrong though, I love a good weird absurd story.But it has to have a great build up and suspense with well crafted characters for me to care about the story) , and I absolutely loathed every second of this book 🙃 P.s- and the conclusion of the story was particularly the dumbest part ever, it honestly felt like author was running out of ideas and just randomly decided the pregnancy horror element(if you call it that) for the story to end. By the way have you read To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger??(I gave it 4stars because of the writing style) Would love to hear your thoughts on that book.
Thank you so much for watching! Glad you felt “seen” by this review. Quite frankly, I read this so long ago that so much of the story (and my displeasure) has already faded from memory, but I am in agreement in that I love weird and absurd stories, but to me, the tone is everything. As I said here, if there had been an acknowledgment of how humorously bizarre ever turns, it would’ve been a winner! Coincidentally, you’re in luck! I do own a copy of To Be Devoured and plan to read it soon!
As Seen on Tiktok would be a hard pass, but you never know I guess. I grabbed this one and hope to read it, I'm also always weary of books with this much hype.
I genuinely hope you find some value in it, Steve! Many people have liked it, so it seems to be 50/50. I just hope the hype doesn’t ruin it for you! Thank you for watching!
I feel like Zoe was an internet troll ahead of her time. The tapeworm baby was reminicent of the mutant baby from Eraserhead, but without any depth, lol.
@@PlaguedbyVisions In a world where the book was well written, I could see Zoe as a malicious keyboard edgelord using thinly veiled kink dares to drive the "drudge" to self harm. I don't know if her actions per authorial intent are that deep. As rainbow man who is pretty deeply involved in leather and the *cough* bd($)m community, I found the tropes in the book pretty laughable. Ty for your review of this book.
@@MorganMcA Ah, gotcha! Yes, you know, I felt like the book was a lot more focused on shocking a cishet audience with LGBT things, which is valid, I guess! But I honestly have heard most of the negative reception of this come from fellow LGBT’s. 🤔
A joke as juvenile as this book was. I’m glad you enjoyed the review. UA-cam deleted your other comments because they’re censorship tyrants, but I agree wholeheartedly: This book is terrible representation entirely.
Always enjoy your videos, but this video really has elevated my respect for your channel. As critical as you are in this, and you are definitely critical, you seem to genuinely be trying to take the author in good faith and not kick someone while they’re down. It’s pretty easy to do the sort of distanced, snarky, takedown style criticism, and pretty fun too, but I don’t think it’s very productive. This kind of video is really what should be appreciated in art and media criticism, books and otherwise. Best thing that could come from this is artists taking this kind of stuff in an equal amount of good faith and improving their craft. :+]
That is so nice to hear! Thank you so much for you kind and supportive words. I was honestly worried there were indeed some moments here that may have come across as overly “snarky” and disrespectful. I hope at least it’s all taken in good fun. I agree 100% that disrespect goes nowhere. That’s certainly not the vibe I’d ever want to put out here.
Trying to comment again: Thank you for this! I see a lot of people saying this book is amazing and I hated it. It's bad representation for the L community, women, books, mentally ill people, police and tapeworms. I lost 1h of my life.
This one seems to be okay by the UA-cam Gods’ standards. Honestly, so annoying that they delete comments automatically, especially for this channel, where we talk about so many naughty things. I agree. So misguided, exploitative, shallow, flavorless, and unimaginative. When a tapeworm is the most compelling character, you really messed up. Interestingly enough, however, I’ve read a book where a tapeworm character really works: Filth by Irvine Welsh!
Thanks, Seamus! The Wasp Factory is great! It had previously only appeared in my channel as a “viewer entry” in my “Most Disturbing Books” series, which is unacceptable! I may just have to do an individual review for it. However, I read it about 10 years ago, so it might require a reread first!
@@PlaguedbyVisions Look forward to hearing what you think of the book once you're finished it. It's been ages since I read it, but I remember finding it hard to put down and finding the depiction of mental illness really riveting.
I listened to the audiobook and I think it hits harder than if I had read it. The woman who reads it is very expressive and portrays the vulnerability of Agnes and the cruelty of Zoe (in my opinion). Several comments have mentioned how quick it goes from normal to bizarre but the way the woman reads it it goes from normal to kinky with just a change in her voice. I feel that Zoe trolled lonely woman often and maybe Agnes was the one that really went with it and freaked Zoe out. And she would continue to find other Drudges if the police weren’t investigating her. I keep thinking about this book and I’ll be glad when it gets out of my head. Whether it’s because of time or I find something weirder to replace it. 😊 I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is already edging it out. Anyway I enjoyed reading the different reviews. Also I really enjoy your channel.
You’ve legitimately made me curious to check the audiobook out! I’m down haha. It’s short enough. Thank you for watching and for the kind words! Harlan Ellison rules.
I really love this review because all others I’ve seen aren’t very verbose. I know it’s a short book so many are making short reviews but like. “It sucks.” Or “it’s great” aren’t really a review imo. But you touched on a decent amount of my frustrations and concerns with the book. The ending is so abrupt, as you’ve mentioned. And since they put so much into the police investigation surrounding this novella, why not end it with a police report and maybe even add a couple news articles and stuff? Like I guess I get that the author wants you to draw your own conclusions, but this didn’t quite read as horror to me. There’s horror aspects, but it doesn’t quite get there-it only sort of gives you some creepy language and like only two tiny gross out moments and that’s it. The horror could be in the aftermath, the police reports, court proceedings, even giving us literally ANY info about Zoe. Because after the initial emails, her replies are so bland and lifeless outside of her one dream that she talks about. Perhaps it’s meant to speak on how dependent Agnes became despite getting next to nothing from Zoe outside of financial aid, a couple of dares, and a few very emotionless declarations of love. But I didn’t like that. We don’t know how old Zoe is, what she does for a living, nothing about her family aside from her grandfather who she likely fabricated. It would be really cool to have gotten information (and even shocking information) about Zoe in the aftermath, which frankly, could’ve saved the book for me. But the spiral into darkness is so short, unbelievable, and ends so weakly? What frustrates me most about this story is that it had endless potential that was squandered. And as you said, it’s gripping and very easy to read, so it would’ve been amazing to actually get something out of that. Instead of stilted conversation and essentially love at first email that ended in a weird sudden mental break. I don’t know. Maybe I’m being overly judgmental. I also only read this last night and have no one to discuss it with, so I’m vomiting my opinion here.
Hey, no worries! I recorded this video moments after reading it, so I understand the need to vent. I don’t know what else to add to your comment other than I generally agree with your assessments. I’ve definitely read way worse stuff, but something about its shortsightedness and the roughly drawn scenario just really rubbed me the wrong way.
I listened to the audiobook, so i imagine listening to it was quicker than reading it. was weird how short it was was, this seems like a creepypasta that was printed. Interested but in its length can MAYBE accept the girl who was willing to be humiliated obviously had problems and found the one person who was into that... tho i wanted more of a story, it was a little meh but leaning towards okay...
The comparison to a creepypasta has been made a couple times, and I have to agree! I can honestly say the concept and setup never seemed unbelievable to me, but the way it was handled definitely did.
people are hyping up this book so hard only for there to be a fucking tapeworm baby 😭😭 thank you for this review, i thought about buying this book and i’m glad i didn’t waste my time and money.
I think I like the shortness and vagueness of their relationship. Really and truthfully, it makes the story that much more creepy and disturbing. There is a lot of “unfilled holes” in the story, but I think that that in itself is creepy and speaks to how terrible this relationship was to both agnes and zoe. Although if this story was much longer and still underdeveloped in the relationship of characters I would be wanting more, but overall I enjoyed this story and the writing.
When I read it I felt no connection with the characters. I was disappointed that we knew too much at the beginning about Zoe, and wished there was some follow up at the end. LaRocca has good ideas and I was excited about the epistolary format. Sarah Lotz does this well.
I didn’t completely hate the book but I agree with your thoughts and I have to agree the tapeworm scenes were so completely absurd that they were kinda funny.
So as a queer woman who was planning a life with a another woman in a time where we couldn’t legally marry and in a place where we still couldn’t adopt children today, I have some… thoughts… about the tapeworm plot. It’s bad. Ok no I’ll say more than that. There are elements to that’s book that aren’t entirely alien to me as a queer woman surrounded by other queer women. The dynamic between the two actually does remind me of a friend who was intersex and basically rented herself out as a live-in slave or dominatrix to both men and women in order to cover the cost of living and medical care after her family disowned her. And the longing for a child you can’t have being replaced by a loving connection with something other than a human is something not only very common among queer couples but something I experienced myself (I am bisexual but infertile) when I became maternally attached to a pet fish I was given as a gift right after suffering a miscarriage. To everyone around me that fish was just a stupid fish and something you could easily replace, but I made special food for it and played with it and when it got bloat I frantically took it to a vet who said they couldn’t do anything and suggested I just get a new one. When it died I cried for days and fell into a depression akin to the one I went thru when I lost my actual baby. I also had a doll I would hold and pretend feed while going through therapy to help me cope with the loss. So to some extent I can understand someone who feels such a lack of human connection being attached to even a parasite if it fills that gap. But the choice to make it a tapeworm specifically and the seriousness it’s treated with, especially knowing the author is AMAB, it really reeks of someone who was looking at AFAB people in a way that assumes pregnancy is of equal or greater importance than parenthood, which is usually not true (ESPECIALLY for queer women) and tends to be a mistake made by men VERY often bc they think of women in the way they interact with them (procreating by getting them pregnant) rather than how they feel as their own people outside of their interactions with men. Basically, I know LaRocca is queer, but they are not a woman or a lesbian and it feels like they assumed they knew how it would feel to be a lesbian without considering they should maybe talk to some lesbians or do some research about how their experiences might differ from an AMAB person before putting pen to paper, and it’s REALLY not a good look in my opinion. I’ve seen a lot of people compare this book to a creepypasta and YEAH, I get that vibe and I think that’s the root of it; creepypastas tend to be written by inexperienced teenage writers trying to write from the perspective of adults and of the opposite sex while having a very loose understanding of what that actually means, leaving you with stories about how, say, a girl got dumped and went so crazy she murdered 5 grown men with her bare hands then turned them inside out and the police saw it but they had to let her go bc she was too crazy to go to jail, etc, etc. plus, this may just be a nitpick bc I’m a science nerd from a medical family but I hate the fact that I can’t think of a single story I’ve read where someone got a tapeworm that wasn’t from some like super-vile, rotten, maggot filled piece of meat that’s usually not even from a type of animal that carries tapeworms, like…. Y’all know people get tapeworms all the time from slightly undercooked pork chops, right? If anything being all rotten and nasty makes it more likely the eggs will die before you eat them. It just bothers me bc it feel like “ok the tapeworm wasn’t the important part, was it? You just wanted an excuse to make someone eat liquified pig guts or literal shit”. It feels really cheap, and that’s coming from someone currently planning a video essay on why the gore and gross out in Haunted is actually super important to a bigger narrative. Idk like I said it could be a nitpick, put it bothers me the same way Juan talked about how much it bothered him when The Slob decided you can speak perfect English with no lips. It feel campy and stupid.
No new filter, just shitty fluorescent lighting. This book is dumb, but admittedly, very weird, and not necessarily the subject matter. Just… questionable choices were made.
The Wasp Factory is still one of the top ten most disturbing books I have read, I think. I didn't know it has seen knew popularity. I haven't heard anyone talk about it. You know you are on hard times when you have to sell the apple peeler. 😅 Judging by what know/have heard about this book, I think I would have similar issues. Vintage internet is creepy. 😂
The Wasp Factory is certainly getting some newfound buzz, which is the weirdest thing ever, but I welcome it! It was an antique apple peeler that was about to sell for $250, shipping included, so I get it. Vintage internet is admittedly creepy, but this wasn’t!
I’m not sure, but I’m getting the sense that maybe you didn’t love this book. This was hysterical 😂. I was just about to buy this book, and now I’m not sure. Kind of want to read it even more now. I think I still might, especially since it’s so short. Plus, I need to know more about this apple peeler. Had to stop at spoilers, but I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw 😜
Dave, I’ll send you the book! I mean it! I was going to send it to an Instagram follower, but they never got back to me with the address. And then you can come back and watch the spoiler review and see if you agree!
@@PlaguedbyVisions As you’ll remember from Discord, I was sitting down to read this last night. I could barely take a break to go to the bathroom. So, you and I do not completely agree about this book (watch for the video). I was going to say, “I’m afraid to say we don’t agree,” but I guess I’m actually “excited” to say we don’t agree… should lead to some interesting discussion! I’m going to pass this along as you suggested, and I’m thinking that maybe once it makes some rounds, this would warrant a livestream spoiler roundtable discussion? Of course, that would mean I’d have to learn how to livestream…
@@BookBlather Great to hear it, Dave! And if you really liked it, of course, you’re allowed to keep it! This book definitely warrants discussion-I’ll give it that!
"Blenders on Grindr" sounds like an EDM artist. I was very bothered by the representation in this book. The plot also seemed unlikely. I still don't know how I feel about it.
GRINDRBLENDER is how it would be spelled. I usually don’t mind ridiculous plots, but I felt like this wasn’t trying to be that? It was the literary equivalent of a teacher telling students not to laugh.
"It's like an Alice Cooper concert --" Well see that makes me *want* to read it 🙃 fr though this one has been on my TBR list, as the premise sounded good and that cover art is gorgeous. I still wanna give it a go, I'll just have to not expect anything too profound.
Haha, yeah, by all means, give it a try! That’s a good expectation to have going into it. Sadly, as you may see, the author INSISTS on the fact that it’s profound, so it’s kind of hard to keep up that disposition.
I might have checked this out anyway because it sounds interesting, I’ve done it before. But my thing is I don’t need L-word misery content because I already have enough of my own L-word misery of my own.
Just read this book about 2 weeks ago and while I enjoyed the premise and style of the story telling it feels like the biggest bait and switch based on that damn cover. I absolutely LOVE the cover and was so excited to read it especially after all the hype but it was a huge disappointment. 💔
The cover is spectacular, the book sounds extremely dumb. Any writer comparing their own work to other peoples work is like an artist calling their own work a masterpiece 😶 that’s just a no no for me, so thanks for reviewing this. I will skip it.
Glad you found this useful! Yes, there was a lot in the book, beyond the author’s self-praise, that read as pompous and pretentious. Not a very good book, but I agree, pretty to look at!
Ha, I'm with you. I saw the cover and was like, wow, I really want to read this book! Then, I heard it was trending on tik tok or twitter or some nonsense...and the author's pretentious opinion of their own book, proudly displayed...Nope. I think I just miss the old school book covers (like from the 80s and 90s is what I'm thinking of) which were works of art. Popular, pulpy art sometimes, but always interesting...
With all the praise around it and talk of the gruesomeness, I expected more out of it but by the end there wasn't much pay-off to it for me? We got to the end with that tapeworm baby and I was losing it because of how ridiculous it was. It was the least expected thing to happen and happened way too suddenly for me to keep up with. There was also nothing to keep us up-to-date on the Zoe aspect of the novella because while it makes sense that she'd be blamed as this was the early 2000s because internet and how it was viewed at the time, who they were sexuality wise (discrimination), and their relationship was questionable in terms of what it was and how it came to play in Agnes' mental health - it fell flat. As flat as that tapeworm baby. I do wish LaRocca would've given us details in an author's note or interview somewhere because while I don't mind ambiguous things, this was too many questions left unanswered. But I did like the vibes of it, I just wish there was something More. On a positive note, your videos and the way you discuss books is so well-done and thorough. You do such a good job and are a gem, thank you for all the hard work you put into these videos. :D
So it’s been over a year now, and I don’t remember a lot of details, but I do remember being equally frustrated with how abandoned the whole “found text” concept was abandoned. It really went nowhere and was only there for who knows what. Like I said in the video, some more play with the format to make it significant would have been nice! Otherwise, why even introduce it as “this really happened omg!”? Thank you for your kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed this review!
I liked aspects of this book, but like many others I was disappointed by the pacing and the length. Their relationship progresses far too quickly and I feel like it tries to explore too many ideas in too little time. It ends up reading more like a first draft of a longer novel instead of an effective short story. I hold out this sliver of hope that due to the popularity, that the author returns to this work and maybe 'uncovers more emails and DMs' in an expanded version or sequel. I would be super interested to see other writers take aspects of this story and expand further. The narrative format sees ample opportunity for people to expand further on thsi story
So I just finished this novella and this is the first review I find that tackles almost all the same frustrations I had about it except two: - The whole tapeworm ordeal? Stolen from the Blowfly Girl's blog. If y'all don't know about it, look it up and tell me there's no similarities. - The ending with the apple peeler was predictable as fuck and probably pays homage to the ending scene in "π" by Aronofsky. He drills his skull, she drills her eyes with the damn peeler. I mean, come on. This on top of all the derivative shit the review and comments already rightfully pointed out. Did I hate the book? No. Was I often incredibly mad at it because it could have been great but it settled for mid? YES.
I agree with your assessment, but also often hesitate to blame the book. Yes, the book’s conventions were very mediocre and derivative, but I kind of mostly blame all the TikTok peeps that overhyped the shit out of it for me. And I’m not even on TikTok! That’s how loud the buzz for this was.
@@PlaguedbyVisions yeah, I similarly found out about this one and while I did find it moderately interesting, as someone who has been a fan of "grotesque" art all her life I was like...is this it? Seen it all before.
Just finished this book a couple of hours ago and wanted to find some reviews that shared my frustration with it. Found yours and I absolutely agree with you on the stupid tapeworm thing.
The tapeworm was honestly my favorite part, but for all the wrong reasons. 😂 Yeah, really wished for a little more self-awareness. Everything just felt imbued with an “I’m trying way too hard” sensibility.
I think this book tried to be a Todd Solondz film instead, but just like his filmography, some is just...meh. LaRocca won't come close to 'Crash' anytime soon (especially after hearing about You've Lost a Lot of Blood).
huh, what a waste of great cover art and title (which in fact reminds me of „I’m thinking of ending things” by Iain Reid which was great book, creepier, weirder and imo much better than movie)
Curiously, I wasn’t really really a fan of that book, either. 🤭 I’m honestly not even hard to please when it comes horror! Perhaps there’s a certain sensibility to horror that I’m just not a fan of.
Really? But I seem to recall specifically a passage in which Agnes herself says it’s ridiculous to be selling an apple peeler on a dating site… hm, now who knows? Who cares? 🤭
@@PlaguedbyVisions I was going to begin this with some absurd comment about the irony of posting about an apple peeler in a queer discussion forum when most of us are probably triggered by the mere mention of the word “fruit.” Eric LaRocca. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (Kindle Locations 76-77).
Oh, hey, just a quick one: you say you mostly read 20th century literature, but have you read Don Quixote? I mostly read 20th century lit, too, but Don Q is the exception. The funniest book I've ever read, period. I started reading it on my daily train journeys to work and had to stop because I kept bursting out laughing and couldn't stop lol.
@@PlaguedbyVisions Indeed! It's hard going to get used to the antiquated vernacular, but it's a large part of what makes it so funny, IMHO. You're right, though, it's one of those ones you know you're going to be with for a long while, so it's tough to get started.
@@PlaguedbyVisions I actually agree with everything you say in this video, it just somehow gave me a positive feeling. When I read it I didn’t know about all the grandiose comparisons the author made to other authors, which might have soured me. I like how Agnes actually has all the control, so she basically decides do take it to that level. I also like to think that Zoey is a bit tongue and cheek with her demands, but since they only write to each other, the socially deficient Agnes takes it seriously and carries Zoey’s demands without irony. The best thing about the book is that it has high suggestibility factor, because it’s only a couple hours read, and the concept that the only way these lesbians have a baby together is a filthy tapeworm is a very satisfying and funny thought. I like books that have moments that can make people squirm even if they haven’t read it, simply by me explaining one simple concept.
this sums up almost all my thoughts regarding this book🥶 i finished it in an hour and it was so disappointing it read like a thread of bad tweets with ostentatious badly executed imagery and terrible continuity (its too small for its purpose!!) also very unprecedented in its pretentiousness, for a tiny unsurprising overdone book and i dont wanna be a bitch (but as a lesbian i think i have some credit with the author lol) but even their acknowledgments were embarrassing and pretentious, honestly more gory than the rest of the book 🫣 they should've stayed in their lane fr
All I have to add to this is, it’s been almost a year since I read this book and I’ve forgotten most of it, but I do distinctly remember rolling my eyes at the acknowledgments page. 😂
By all means, please do! A lot of people have liked it. Maybe I’m just a grouch. It’s possible! But I’ll be curious to see if you also find it predictable and unintentionally humorous.
It's incredible how much this sounds like The Sluts, and with the author comparing their work to Dennis Cooper you know that this was trying to at least somewhat emulate it. It really seems like this is just a wannabe sitch. Too bad. People should just read Dennis Cooper instead.
Holy shit, you just answered so many questions for me: Why the insistence on transgression, why the chat room, why the early 2000s? Even with the author directly comparing themselves to Dennis Cooper I didn’t put it together, BUT YES! This is 100% a rip-off. Everything makes sense now. Yet another reason to dismiss it!
Totally understandable why such books are circulated of hypes and such. Lower attention spans and the weird need and desire of recent booktok communities to read less and less and faster and faster.
It would make sense if it was like teenagers because that type of escalation in early teen lesbian relationships was exactly like that. Especially in early internet days. However, the acts they both perform and the language as well as the financial dependency don't fit that at all. It implies they are middle aged women by the way they talk but behave like children. Very confusing. I enjoyed it nonetheless, but probably will never go back to it. Too disturbing for the sake of being disturbing. No real reason behind it other than to be gross.
@@PlaguedbyVisions it just showed up at my local library, and since they hardly ever stock horror of any kind I felt compelled to read it. Not what I expected hahaha I appreciated your review!
Just read this and thought it was hilarious. That ending, I kept imagining tapeworm's first day at school. Waste of (thankfully a short amount of) time.
Normally, tapeworms make me extremely uncomfortable, but hearing you talk about the tapeworm baby made me burst out laughing. I’m just imagining a tapeworm in a baby carriage, pacifier and all, with the mom being this eldritch abomination. 😭 With how absurd with this book sounds like I’m DEFINITELY going to be listening to an audiobook of this book.
I am very late to the party lol. I have mixed feelings about this one. I think there was a huge mismatch between the content and the format. These women wrote lengthy, poetic letters right away... about selling an apple peeler. At some points I found the prose quite beautiful, but since it was supposed to be in emails, it just came off pretentious. Also I didn't see the development of their relationship believable. The tapeworm thing was just hilarious, the author really should have leaned into the absurdity.
I knew I was likely setting myself up for disappointment when I saw that a novel about lesbians-let alone a dark, exploitative one-was written by someone who isn’t one.
It definitely failed the marks of bringing a true sense of humanity to the characters. I think it was a lot more exploitative than the author realized, and I could see that that wasn’t their intent, which made it feel so clumsy.
very late to this video, but my god do I hate this book!!! the portrayal of lesbians is SO uncomfortable to read, its so empty and ugh, what a waste of paper....
I didn’t feel comfortable commenting on this subject since I am a cis man, but what I will say is that they are indeed very tired and overused cliches that the author didn’t really do much with.
As always, UA-cam, in their heroic quest to protect us from naughty words, has deleted quite a few comments from this video for containing the terrible, terrible “Q-word.” If you left me a comment and don’t see it anymore: I NEVER delete comments. UA-cam is just stupid.
Yeah, it deleted mine. I used the L word..
@@palomarodrigues2483 So nice to know I can’t even discuss my lived experience because it’s not family-friendly. 🙃
@@PlaguedbyVisions maybe UA-cam is angry because of the tapeworm baby didn't feature more in the video.
UA-cam just did this to someone’s comment on mine, and I don’t even know what could have been the impetus.
@@BookBlather It does seem to be completely random at times! Not sure what’s going on, but it’s been happening since my first video.
It felt like I was reading a creepypasta at 15 years old again.
Truly. It felt like one of those fake text message horror stories.
I have to agree with your opinion. The body horror elements were great. The format was enjoyable (I’m currently trying to find more horror novels written similarly to this). Definitely could have been a lot longer. The length could have given more insight to the relationship and the the decline of Agnes’ mental health. I also would have liked to learn more about Zoe’s character. I feel like we learned nothing about her to the point where it felt like she wasn’t even who she said she was. Maybe not even a woman? Anyway, loved the review. Keep it up!
I have some suggestions for similarly styled (and in my opinion, better) horror novels:
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper (which LaRocca named as an “inspiration,” though I say “ripped off”)
Amygdalatropolis by BR Yeager
Yeah, I would’ve enjoyed that kind of ambiguity around Zoe’s character, had it not been for the fact that the first chapter literally spoils all that mystery by telling you Zoe is real and under police investigation. What was the “true crime” aspect for? It didn’t do anything. So many misfires from this little novella. Quite a shame. All the same, thank you for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it.
I was underwhelmed, too. I was expecting to learn that it was a catfishing situation. That we'd learn that not only was Zoe lying about her motives, but about her entire identity. Zoe makes no mention of being a lesbian until Agnes reveals it about herself, for example. There's an opportunity for a reveal that the reason these two women so coincidentally had so much in common is because one of them is just lying and stringing the other along. I was expecting to find out that Zoe wasn't gay, and maybe not even a woman. That to me would have been more disturbing than the tapeworm.
You’ve really touched upon my main beef with this book: It feels incomplete! It sets up so many things that never go anywhere. At the beginning, we learn Zoe is under police investigation, and everything’s presented as an investigative piece, so we know Zoe is real and that is her real name, etc., which really killed a lot of the intrigue and possibilities right at the first page. But I did want more play with the format, more disquiet building around the omitted passages (which the author really stops referencing altogether at the halfway point). We never even get why anyone’s interested in exploring this crime. It sets us up with this “found footage” framing narrative that’s just there to make you go “OMG IT WAS REAL!”
I did read on the acknowledgments that LaRocca wrote this in a span of five days, intoxicated by inspiration, and it really reads that way: A flurry of ideas, a number of threads growing and slithering about, but they’re just excreted on paper and never given proper form. Such a disappointment.
I feel like much of the horror comes from having seen the dark sides of kink and online relationships, the way things are set up gradually are actually very close to grooming and abuse situations that are unfortunately very common online
I also think the vague nature of the story and all the key details that are left out contribute to the horror greatly but the very fast jump into the ending and the length hold it back a bit
This book is begging to be fleshed out properly or adapted
I can see where you’re coming from! Personally, everything just felt dreadfully unexplored, and has been done in much more masterful ways by other authors (The Sluts by Dennis Cooper, which this book borrowed heavily from, is the true masterpiece on the subject matter, in my eyes). The length was definitely a detriment, but I also felt that a flurry of other choices were extremely flawed: Why introduce it as true crime and a play with form and then never utilize those tools again? Why ruin the mystery around Zoe by telling us from the get-go that she IS real and under police investigation? Baffling choices…
I must say, as enjoyable as it is hearing you review books you enjoyed, it was an absolute delight watching you tear a book to shreds for once-in a laundry room, no less! This video was incredible.
Haha, well, thank you! I didn’t mean to be intentionally mean or “shady,” this book was just honestly super disappointing and lackluster.
Can we have merch that says “I sell blenders on Grinder from time to time” 😂😂 This is so great!!
Shirts, hoodies, tank tops, booty shorts, coming soon!
@@PlaguedbyVisions hahahaha! YASSSSS 👏👏👏
I'd pay more money than I have for this
Can we get "Bathe in the cheese, the cheese is your friend" as well please! ♥️
@@DJ-qr7hk that can be the backside!
I was so excited to read this book (purely because of the cover art tbh) but it was such a letdown, I wish the author had at least spent more time on it. Totally agree with everything you've said here
I recommend The Sluts by Dennis Cooper as a better version of this, if you haven’t read it already! It seems LaRocca borrowed heavily from that work.
oh thank goodness someone broke down exactly why this one fell so short for me. I was baffled by all the praise it's getting.
It is baffling to me, too, but to each their own. It was definitely lackluster, ridiculous, and not very well-written for me. Different tastes!
I'm one of those people who didn't enjoy it, though - I'm not someone who reads very shocking stuff, so I gave this book an extra star because of the shock value. But I agree with everything you said, and have a couple of other points to add which I've seen people mention somewhat but not entirely.
1. The shortness of the book went against it in the sense that we never got a chance to relate to the characters, or even to root for/against their relationship - everything happened way too quickly. And if I can't relate to a character, I won't be able to empathise with the horror they're going through.
2. Except that...was Agnes going through 'horror'? Like you said, the tapeworm thing was so ridiculous that it made me laugh, but also the fact that Agnes was fully enjoying her "pregnancy" took away from the horror factor. Like, I was thinking, if this is your kink then you do you girl! Yes it was a form of self-harm and madness, I get that, but the pure joy she felt just made it difficult for me to feel too horrified.
3. I know that a lot of people have criticized the depiction of q-ness in this book, but I'd like to additionally say that the general depiction of "woman obsessed with motherhood to go to crazy extremes for it" trope was also offensive. It's a common trope we see in thrillers usually, and it perpetuates the idea that some women gain a sense of worth only through pregnancy/childbearing/child-stealing etc - they just desperately need a child under any circumstances. I feel the horror of this book really draws on that tired trope, and that annoyed me.
All in all, I feel that the author had a great premise and format, but didn't execute them well at all. What a waste of a good idea.
Thank you for your comment! Obviously, I agree with your points, and did think that this book being called “entirely original” was baffling, since a lot of it felt very derivative, and like it drew from tired tropes, and just wormed its way towards an ending that felt ridiculous and unsatisfactory. There’s much better transgressive and shocking fiction out there, I assure you! And yes, the motherhood aspect of it was a definite miss.
I'm so glad I found someone who thought it was as bad as I thought it was. Really wish it didn't have such a gross portrayal of lesbians. I would've liked it a lot more if it wasn't like that. Also good video I'll be watching a lot more of your channel. 👍
Glad you enjoyed the video! Thank you for watching! Yes, it was quite an underwhelming book with not much importance to add to the subject matter it takes on. Some parts did feel a little exploitative.
Agreed. A horror story combined with LGBTQ+ themes does have potential, but I wish it could’ve actually been written by a woman (especially a queer one).
We don't even know zoe is a lesbian. Is she even a woman lol we never know
I agree with everything you said!! I really expected so much more from this one, I was disappointed that it didn’t give me what I wanted. It went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and didn’t really care for. The tapeworm thing was just so odd, I feel like the only part that was “gross” was the meat part and that’s just because I hate food related things. 🤢
I once more recommend The Sluts by Dennis Cooper for you to see the true genius that a form such as this novel’s can really explore.
There were definitely horrific moments, but they felt so lackluster in how underdeveloped and brief they were. Nothing lingered, nothing lasted. It was like a dim firework in book form!
This is honestly the funniest video you’ve ever made without even trying to. I laughed hysterically at various points. I guess i won’t be reading this one! So funny that you mention why you think this book is trendy. I was also thinking of reading it purely because of the book cover. That’s how they get you!
Lol, well, I’m glad it made you laugh! And yes, never judge a book by its cover, now more than ever!
And twitterverse were falling all over for this book, people like Ross Jeffery (author), saying it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hard Pass for me.
Read The Sluts by Dennis Cooper instead! This book was a rip-off of that lol
Always love your intros/set ups for each video. The absurdity of the apple peeler had me laughing, the blender comment had me rolling. I was a “maybe” on this book and now I think I’ll give it a pass. Thanks as always for giving us thoughtful, intelligent, engaging content!
Thank you so much, Stacy! I’m glad you found my review entertaining and informative! I always say, what didn’t work for me may work for someone else, and vice versa, but if you’re already iffy about this title, I’d say don’t waste your time.
Your review cracked me up. I read this a while ago after randomly seeing it on Kindle and thought the cover looked cool, and the title sounded promising. I love the concept - creepy abusive manipulative internet stuff is definitely one of my jams but, this just fell so flat. The whole end bit was so silly and just the escalation was way too quick. The protagonist just seemed to go from somewhat lonely to completely unhinged in such a short space of time, it made no sense.
If you’re into creepy, abusive, manipulative internet stuff, and you haven’t read The Sluts by Dennis Cooper yet, you are truly missing out!
@@PlaguedbyVisions I'm putting it on my list, thanks for the recommendation! You actually reminded me of Dennis Cooper which was such a brain relief because I read one of his books YEARS ago (I think Closer) and I couldn't remember who wrote it or anything other than some horrible details I wasn't about to Google 😂
@@arilith504 Oh, I highly recommend the rest of the George Miles Cycle! The follow-up to Closer, Frisk, is even worse. 😰
@@PlaguedbyVisions 😂I love how 'even worse' is an endorsement in this case. I'll add them all to my list. Closer (I think it was that anyway) was definitely one of those books I read when I was probably too young roaming around the library on Friday nights (damn I was a cool kid) in those sections not meant for me and it's stuck with me ever since. Look forward to checking out the whole George Miles cycle!
as a lesbian woman i will admit that i have been in romantic situations that make me wanna poke my eyes out with an apple peeler too
😂😂😂! But you know… It’s not so much the content that bothered me (Grindr writes horror stories by itself), but the execution felt trite. I just feel like I’ve read stuff like this on r/nosleep like 30 times lol.
As someone who loves absurdist and existentialists literature, I agree with you !! I felt like this book was half baked and under cooked, I felt like even there was little to no tone or characterisation with both the characters ! However I do like the way it highlights of how the internet and messaging platforms can suck one’s soul, and forum their whole entire identity around a stranger from the internet. But like The author could have gone so crazy with that, and I feel like I would have rather eaten that raw piece of meat instead of listening to a lady talk about her tape worm love child.
I agree, either this could’ve been an all-out bizarro fest, or a more pulled-back character study. Instead it sat awkwardly somewhere in the middle.
I thought the book was incredibly well done. I wouldn’t have wanted it any longer. There’s a mystique about the relationship being as short as it is and being solely online. And at least in my experience, this doesn’t seem so far-fetched, both in the realm of instant online obsession and instant queer relationships that move into serious territory quickly. It’s a horror book, so I get that the tropes are going to be more extreme. And here, I felt like they were merited, in illustrating the decline of mental health or in playing with the darker side of fantasies. With a longer narrative, I feel like it would’ve tried to explain away the insanity. But that’s the thing: sometimes you just meet crazy people, and sometimes bad luck just fucks up your life. To me, that’s way more horrific. And given the beautiful, florid emails exchanged between the two, it reads as somewhat tragic, a case where there were no obvious signs of mania at first. (Even though, if I asked someone to do those things with a salamander, I’d expect anyone who complied to be off-kilter. And if I did any of the things that the dom asked me, I’d know that I was messed up.) I dunno, it just worked for me. And because it’s so short, there was very little risk for me as a reader. I’m willing to risk more on a story that takes an hour or two of my time rather than a novel that asks days of me.
This isn’t your perspective, but I’ve read reviews that say that a man shouldn’t have written a lesbian relationship, and I think that’s a weird take. If any of us want representation, we have to be willing to see it in bad places too. But as you said, there’s nothing really insightful about queerness here. The characters happen to be queer. And I actually like that. Too many authors sorta beat queerness over your head or portray it in really far-fetched and idealistic ways. So, the queerness wasn’t a downside, and it was barely an upside.
So it’s now been close to a year since I read this and frankly I’ve mostly forgotten it already, so forgive me if I get anything wrong:
Firstly, I’m happy that this worked for you! And as I have always said to people here in the comments and elsewhere: It is definitely something one should try for themselves, given its polarizing nature. It’s obviously worked for many, many people!
I think what mostly didn’t work for me was the scatterbrained nature of its elements. As I mentioned, it starts out as this true crime investigation, injects and insists on a formatting that is repeated through and through, so there’s the pretense that this setup and era it’s set in will be important, but it really isn’t. I think that killed a lot of the feverish delirium that you yourself felt. I wasn’t thinking about the madness in the story so much as constantly haunted by that shabby and generic Criminal Minds note it starts with. Full admittance, I also read this after reading Dennis Cooper’s The Sluts and BR Yeager’s Amygdalatropolis, so maybe I’d simply just been exposed to books that use the same format (which I believe this book lifted directly from Cooper’s book) but, in my opinion, in a more effective way.
I also think this was a case of unmet expectations, and most of this review was in response to comments I’d heard from people who recommended it. People recommended it to me as one of the most gruesome and disgusting books ever. I think the violence and transgression were definitely the most entertaining parts, but even those missed a mark for me, a balance between this weird self-importance they are given in the story contrasted with how humorously and ridiculously bizarro it gets. Again, just up to taste.
As for the element of q*eerness in it, certainly I don’t always expect an uplifting or life-altering message when I read a story like this, but again, this was recommended to me as an incredibly powerful and soul-moving story about the q*eer experience, and of course I… respectfully disagree. 😂 People can be fucked up and twisted and q*eer and have the two be unrelated (Poppy Z. Brite’s Exquisite Corpse is one of my favorites on these grounds), but this definitely, more than anything, felt very derivative and generic in terms of these mixtures of BDSM, q*eer love and obsession, and how fucked up people on the internet are. I don’y know. Maybe my expectations were too high. Had I just picked it up blindly, I think I would’ve liked it more, and without the avalanche of hype it got from TikTok. That’s mostly why I prefer reading older books with zero hype behind them.
Anyway, excuse the super long comment! But I will say, the fact that this still makes for discussion so much time later I’d definitely call a merit!
@@PlaguedbyVisions I love your channel and your opinions. And I think you're dead-on. Honestly. Toward the end of the video whenever you say what you might've done as the author, it really showed me how this story could've been so much better. And I think you're right about it how it may be trauma bait. I don't read much of this kind of literature (but I do research in related areas). So, the effects of the shock were probably heightened by that. Also, your remarks on the tapeworm were hilarious. And I guess I kinda did have something somewhat cheesy, but nonetheless disturbing, in mind (sorta like the famous dream scene in 1986 The Fly). Lastly, and I think this would deeply affect my opinion of the story, I wonder how the author feels about this. If the author is at all pretentious about what they've accomplished here, I just wouldn't buy it, and the story would annoy me. Maybe I took this as sorta well-made camp, like Midsommar. I've successfully avoided Ari Aster interviews so far, mostly out of fear that his pretenses might ruin the films for me. Expectations aren't flesh and blood things, but damn can they deliver crushing blows.
In case you need another video idea: Maybe you can make a video of a few books that you think are overhyped by new readers to dark/weird/gory literature, and you can give a few recommendations of what to read instead or what to read to further explore the same themes. Maybe books like Things Have Gotten Worse are kinda gateway books and have the most impact for newbies. But maybe the newbies could use a bit of direction. So, you wouldn't have to throw shade, but you could say that your recommendations explore things in deeper ways.
"I sell blenders on Grindr from time to time" - one of the funniest things I've heard in a while.
This sounds like a try-hard book with shock for the sake of shock - no real rhyme or reason to it. It sounds a bit like gay 5SOG but with tapeworms, honestly. Did one of them rant about their inner godess?
Always a great review from you, Juan.
Definitely trying too hard to shock, trying too hard to be deep, and failing at both. Like wanting to have your cake and eating it, too, but instead you drop your cake into a meat grinder.
And I’m currently laughing hysterically. THEY DO! THE MAIN CHARACTER RANTS ABOUT BEING REBORN INTO A GODDESS AT ONE POINT, ABOUT BECOMING A FREE AND FIERCE GODDESS! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY GUESSED THAT CORRECTLY. 💀💀💀
Hey Juan, I’m currently watching all your videos and I love the selections you provide! I fell victim to the booktok recommendations for horror books and bought this book for my spooky birthday month. I will have to agree that this book has a great premise that left me wanting more and although it was grotesque and nauseating at times it didn’t hold up any weight. I just wish the story went further and the timeline was longer to make it more believable and that the characters were more fleshed out. I seen a previous comment that mentioned it reads like a creepy pasta and it really does in the pace and one dimensionalness of the characters. The cover is hella nice though so that’s the primary reason it’s still in my bookshelf.
Hey! Thank you so much for the support! Yes, I’m sure BookTok has good recommendations as well, but for the most part it just seems to be whatever’s “trending.” Sadly, I don’t know what else I can add about the book since being honest I’ve largely forgotten it already. But I will say, there’s definitely shorter tales with little characterization that are still compelling and powerful, but this wasn’t one of them.
Omg this was hilarious 😆 I had to go back and watch the reveal twice because your laughter was contagious!
Lmao I just love that one of my most popular videos was just recorded off the cuff in a laundry room in Mexico. 😂
@@PlaguedbyVisions It was so funny!! I just love your laugh!!
Yeah, we stan tapeworm baby!
Tapeworm baby is one of the greatest literary characters of the 21st century.
I want a book about it!!!
@@palomarodrigues2483 I would totally read a sequel focusing on Tapeworm Baby. It would be 1000 times more compelling.
I see this book as a critique on toxic relationship dynamics (a morbid one at that) rather than a story you can indulge into. I did think the relationship escalated very quickly and was a bit confused at first, but I think ultimately the author just wanted to convey a point through metaphors and gore imagery. I think they did a decent job at that, it had me thinking and I even found myself resonating with the relationship dynamic the characters had (minus the salamander and tapeworm..and whatever else). When a book has me contemplating things then I know it did a good job, at least for me personally. Overall I enjoyed it.
I definitely don’t mind stories that are mostly meant to be allegorical, and I can see what was being attempted here, of course. I think the biggest thing for me was having read similar but, in my opinion, better executed works that came years before this one. Of course, this book was highly loved and appreciated for the reasons you described. I don’t deny it that influence!
Thank you so much for your words! I’d definitely recommend Amygdalatropolis by BR Yeager!
oh my you now have ads!!!!!!!!!!! so proud and happy for you Juan go get the coin$$$
thanks for another insightful video!!!
Hahaha, I’ve had ads for a while! I hope they don’t get too intrusive. But thanks for watching and supporting!
This is the best review of anything I've ever seen. You have me dying laughing during the spoiler part 🤣🤣 *instant subscribe*
Thank you so much! 😂
I have a question about books tho. If Eric LaRocca from a hypothetical standpoint didn't like how the book was written and wanted to rewrite and rerelease that would it be possible?
I really appricated the concept of the book and the format but the best part of the book was the cover. When I saw "Cronenberg" referenced I figured there would be some on page body horror so that was pretty disappointing. Great review!
I, too, kept waiting for some significant dematerialization, some evaporating flesh, some eczema-anything! The book cover is admittedly great. It caught my eye, which, as I said, is my suspicion as to why this book is becoming a bestseller. It’s a great book to pose with on social media!
'she's like babe im pregnant", dead
What a silly little book.
I absolutely agree with everything that you said, I gave it 2stars just because I was quite engaged by the symbolic nature of apple and loss of inocence too but then it was all thrash,it didn't leaded to anything and after that nothing made sense at all(don't get me wrong though, I love a good weird absurd story.But it has to have a great build up and suspense with well crafted characters for me to care about the story) , and I absolutely loathed every second of this book 🙃
P.s- and the conclusion of the story was particularly the dumbest part ever, it honestly felt like author was running out of ideas and just randomly decided the pregnancy horror element(if you call it that) for the story to end.
By the way have you read To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger??(I gave it 4stars because of the writing style)
Would love to hear your thoughts on that book.
Thank you so much for watching! Glad you felt “seen” by this review. Quite frankly, I read this so long ago that so much of the story (and my displeasure) has already faded from memory, but I am in agreement in that I love weird and absurd stories, but to me, the tone is everything. As I said here, if there had been an acknowledgment of how humorously bizarre ever turns, it would’ve been a winner!
Coincidentally, you’re in luck! I do own a copy of To Be Devoured and plan to read it soon!
love the rawness of your takes
The Library in the Laundry Room. Sounds an intriguing book but not for me.
Reading through the wash cycles 🧺
As Seen on Tiktok would be a hard pass, but you never know I guess. I grabbed this one and hope to read it, I'm also always weary of books with this much hype.
I genuinely hope you find some value in it, Steve! Many people have liked it, so it seems to be 50/50. I just hope the hype doesn’t ruin it for you! Thank you for watching!
I feel like Zoe was an internet troll ahead of her time. The tapeworm baby was reminicent of the mutant baby from Eraserhead, but without any depth, lol.
Omfg it’s been years now which one was Zoe? 😳
@@PlaguedbyVisions the "sponsor" lol
@@PlaguedbyVisions In a world where the book was well written, I could see Zoe as a malicious keyboard edgelord using thinly veiled kink dares to drive the "drudge" to self harm. I don't know if her actions per authorial intent are that deep. As rainbow man who is pretty deeply involved in leather and the *cough* bd($)m community, I found the tropes in the book pretty laughable. Ty for your review of this book.
@@MorganMcA Ah, gotcha! Yes, you know, I felt like the book was a lot more focused on shocking a cishet audience with LGBT things, which is valid, I guess! But I honestly have heard most of the negative reception of this come from fellow LGBT’s. 🤔
blenders on grinder!!!!LMAO I cannot! ROTFL you made my fucking year!
A joke as juvenile as this book was. I’m glad you enjoyed the review. UA-cam deleted your other comments because they’re censorship tyrants, but I agree wholeheartedly: This book is terrible representation entirely.
Always enjoy your videos, but this video really has elevated my respect for your channel. As critical as you are in this, and you are definitely critical, you seem to genuinely be trying to take the author in good faith and not kick someone while they’re down. It’s pretty easy to do the sort of distanced, snarky, takedown style criticism, and pretty fun too, but I don’t think it’s very productive. This kind of video is really what should be appreciated in art and media criticism, books and otherwise. Best thing that could come from this is artists taking this kind of stuff in an equal amount of good faith and improving their craft. :+]
That is so nice to hear! Thank you so much for you kind and supportive words. I was honestly worried there were indeed some moments here that may have come across as overly “snarky” and disrespectful. I hope at least it’s all taken in good fun. I agree 100% that disrespect goes nowhere. That’s certainly not the vibe I’d ever want to put out here.
"An Alice Cooper concert as a book"
Um, wait, did you mean to make it sound good? Because...
HAHA alright let’s be more accurate: An Alice Cooper concert but the performer is convinced they’re playing classical music. 😂
@@PlaguedbyVisions Ah, it's pretentious.
Trying to comment again: Thank you for this! I see a lot of people saying this book is amazing and I hated it. It's bad representation for the L community, women, books, mentally ill people, police and tapeworms. I lost 1h of my life.
This one seems to be okay by the UA-cam Gods’ standards. Honestly, so annoying that they delete comments automatically, especially for this channel, where we talk about so many naughty things.
I agree. So misguided, exploitative, shallow, flavorless, and unimaginative. When a tapeworm is the most compelling character, you really messed up. Interestingly enough, however, I’ve read a book where a tapeworm character really works: Filth by Irvine Welsh!
Another great review. It was exciting to hear you mention The Wasp Factory. I totally love that book!
Thanks, Seamus! The Wasp Factory is great! It had previously only appeared in my channel as a “viewer entry” in my “Most Disturbing Books” series, which is unacceptable! I may just have to do an individual review for it. However, I read it about 10 years ago, so it might require a reread first!
@@PlaguedbyVisions You might also consider reading The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe at some point in the future.
@@seamusgaelic6447 Back here to let you know I’ve started the Butcher Boy!
@@PlaguedbyVisions Look forward to hearing what you think of the book once you're finished it. It's been ages since I read it, but I remember finding it hard to put down and finding the depiction of mental illness really riveting.
Thanks for reading this so I don’t have to. Great review! You can make a video about even a disappointing book interesting.
I hate to say it Michael, but I think he may have just topped your review of ‘Feral’ 😂
@@BookBlather 🐈 Never! 🐈⬛
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Agreed. Even an apple peeler can’t light a candle to exploding, yelping cats
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 😂
“Thanks for reading this so I don’t have to.” Famous last words, Michael.
I listened to the audiobook and I think it hits harder than if I had read it. The woman who reads it is very expressive and portrays the vulnerability of Agnes and the cruelty of Zoe (in my opinion). Several comments have mentioned how quick it goes from normal to bizarre but the way the woman reads it it goes from normal to kinky with just a change in her voice. I feel that Zoe trolled lonely woman often and maybe Agnes was the one that really went with it and freaked Zoe out. And she would continue to find other Drudges if the police weren’t investigating her. I keep thinking about this book and I’ll be glad when it gets out of my head. Whether it’s because of time or I find something weirder to replace it. 😊 I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is already edging it out. Anyway I enjoyed reading the different reviews. Also I really enjoy your channel.
You’ve legitimately made me curious to check the audiobook out! I’m down haha. It’s short enough. Thank you for watching and for the kind words! Harlan Ellison rules.
I really love this review because all others I’ve seen aren’t very verbose. I know it’s a short book so many are making short reviews but like. “It sucks.” Or “it’s great” aren’t really a review imo. But you touched on a decent amount of my frustrations and concerns with the book. The ending is so abrupt, as you’ve mentioned. And since they put so much into the police investigation surrounding this novella, why not end it with a police report and maybe even add a couple news articles and stuff? Like I guess I get that the author wants you to draw your own conclusions, but this didn’t quite read as horror to me. There’s horror aspects, but it doesn’t quite get there-it only sort of gives you some creepy language and like only two tiny gross out moments and that’s it.
The horror could be in the aftermath, the police reports, court proceedings, even giving us literally ANY info about Zoe. Because after the initial emails, her replies are so bland and lifeless outside of her one dream that she talks about. Perhaps it’s meant to speak on how dependent Agnes became despite getting next to nothing from Zoe outside of financial aid, a couple of dares, and a few very emotionless declarations of love. But I didn’t like that. We don’t know how old Zoe is, what she does for a living, nothing about her family aside from her grandfather who she likely fabricated. It would be really cool to have gotten information (and even shocking information) about Zoe in the aftermath, which frankly, could’ve saved the book for me.
But the spiral into darkness is so short, unbelievable, and ends so weakly? What frustrates me most about this story is that it had endless potential that was squandered. And as you said, it’s gripping and very easy to read, so it would’ve been amazing to actually get something out of that. Instead of stilted conversation and essentially love at first email that ended in a weird sudden mental break. I don’t know. Maybe I’m being overly judgmental. I also only read this last night and have no one to discuss it with, so I’m vomiting my opinion here.
Hey, no worries! I recorded this video moments after reading it, so I understand the need to vent. I don’t know what else to add to your comment other than I generally agree with your assessments. I’ve definitely read way worse stuff, but something about its shortsightedness and the roughly drawn scenario just really rubbed me the wrong way.
I listened to the audiobook, so i imagine listening to it was quicker than reading it.
was weird how short it was was, this seems like a creepypasta that was printed.
Interested but in its length can MAYBE accept the girl who was willing to be
humiliated obviously had problems and found the one person who was into that...
tho i wanted more of a story, it was a little meh but leaning towards okay...
The comparison to a creepypasta has been made a couple times, and I have to agree! I can honestly say the concept and setup never seemed unbelievable to me, but the way it was handled definitely did.
people are hyping up this book so hard only for there to be a fucking tapeworm baby 😭😭 thank you for this review, i thought about buying this book and i’m glad i didn’t waste my time and money.
Glad you found the review helpful! Yes, to me it was completely ridiculous, and Tapeworm Baby™️ really sealed the deal.
I think I like the shortness and vagueness of their relationship. Really and truthfully, it makes the story that much more creepy and disturbing. There is a lot of “unfilled holes” in the story, but I think that that in itself is creepy and speaks to how terrible this relationship was to both agnes and zoe. Although if this story was much longer and still underdeveloped in the relationship of characters I would be wanting more, but overall I enjoyed this story and the writing.
When I read it I felt no connection with the characters. I was disappointed that we knew too much at the beginning about Zoe, and wished there was some follow up at the end. LaRocca has good ideas and I was excited about the epistolary format. Sarah Lotz does this well.
I didn’t completely hate the book but I agree with your thoughts and I have to agree the tapeworm scenes were so completely absurd that they were kinda funny.
Tapeworm Baby remains a horror icon.
great review!
Thank you so much! 😁
So as a queer woman who was planning a life with a another woman in a time where we couldn’t legally marry and in a place where we still couldn’t adopt children today, I have some… thoughts… about the tapeworm plot.
It’s bad.
Ok no I’ll say more than that.
There are elements to that’s book that aren’t entirely alien to me as a queer woman surrounded by other queer women. The dynamic between the two actually does remind me of a friend who was intersex and basically rented herself out as a live-in slave or dominatrix to both men and women in order to cover the cost of living and medical care after her family disowned her. And the longing for a child you can’t have being replaced by a loving connection with something other than a human is something not only very common among queer couples but something I experienced myself (I am bisexual but infertile) when I became maternally attached to a pet fish I was given as a gift right after suffering a miscarriage. To everyone around me that fish was just a stupid fish and something you could easily replace, but I made special food for it and played with it and when it got bloat I frantically took it to a vet who said they couldn’t do anything and suggested I just get a new one. When it died I cried for days and fell into a depression akin to the one I went thru when I lost my actual baby. I also had a doll I would hold and pretend feed while going through therapy to help me cope with the loss. So to some extent I can understand someone who feels such a lack of human connection being attached to even a parasite if it fills that gap. But the choice to make it a tapeworm specifically and the seriousness it’s treated with, especially knowing the author is AMAB, it really reeks of someone who was looking at AFAB people in a way that assumes pregnancy is of equal or greater importance than parenthood, which is usually not true (ESPECIALLY for queer women) and tends to be a mistake made by men VERY often bc they think of women in the way they interact with them (procreating by getting them pregnant) rather than how they feel as their own people outside of their interactions with men. Basically, I know LaRocca is queer, but they are not a woman or a lesbian and it feels like they assumed they knew how it would feel to be a lesbian without considering they should maybe talk to some lesbians or do some research about how their experiences might differ from an AMAB person before putting pen to paper, and it’s REALLY not a good look in my opinion. I’ve seen a lot of people compare this book to a creepypasta and YEAH, I get that vibe and I think that’s the root of it; creepypastas tend to be written by inexperienced teenage writers trying to write from the perspective of adults and of the opposite sex while having a very loose understanding of what that actually means, leaving you with stories about how, say, a girl got dumped and went so crazy she murdered 5 grown men with her bare hands then turned them inside out and the police saw it but they had to let her go bc she was too crazy to go to jail, etc, etc.
plus, this may just be a nitpick bc I’m a science nerd from a medical family but I hate the fact that I can’t think of a single story I’ve read where someone got a tapeworm that wasn’t from some like super-vile, rotten, maggot filled piece of meat that’s usually not even from a type of animal that carries tapeworms, like…. Y’all know people get tapeworms all the time from slightly undercooked pork chops, right? If anything being all rotten and nasty makes it more likely the eggs will die before you eat them. It just bothers me bc it feel like “ok the tapeworm wasn’t the important part, was it? You just wanted an excuse to make someone eat liquified pig guts or literal shit”. It feels really cheap, and that’s coming from someone currently planning a video essay on why the gore and gross out in Haunted is actually super important to a bigger narrative. Idk like I said it could be a nitpick, put it bothers me the same way Juan talked about how much it bothered him when The Slob decided you can speak perfect English with no lips. It feel campy and stupid.
Hello new filter!!! Also from the moment you said worms, my mind immediately thought of Matthew Stokoe! This book is bizarre!
No new filter, just shitty fluorescent lighting.
This book is dumb, but admittedly, very weird, and not necessarily the subject matter. Just… questionable choices were made.
@@PlaguedbyVisions For some reason this shitty fluorescent lighting looks pleasing to the eyes ;)
@@codeinesnaps are you sure it wasn’t just my beautiful potato face? 🥔
@@PlaguedbyVisions That made it more pleasing to the eyes!!!
Why would you want to peel an apple?
💀💀💀
The Wasp Factory is still one of the top ten most disturbing books I have read, I think. I didn't know it has seen knew popularity. I haven't heard anyone talk about it. You know you are on hard times when you have to sell the apple peeler. 😅 Judging by what know/have heard about this book, I think I would have similar issues. Vintage internet is creepy. 😂
The Wasp Factory is certainly getting some newfound buzz, which is the weirdest thing ever, but I welcome it!
It was an antique apple peeler that was about to sell for $250, shipping included, so I get it.
Vintage internet is admittedly creepy, but this wasn’t!
I’m not sure, but I’m getting the sense that maybe you didn’t love this book. This was hysterical 😂. I was just about to buy this book, and now I’m not sure. Kind of want to read it even more now. I think I still might, especially since it’s so short. Plus, I need to know more about this apple peeler. Had to stop at spoilers, but I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw 😜
Dave, I’ll send you the book! I mean it! I was going to send it to an Instagram follower, but they never got back to me with the address. And then you can come back and watch the spoiler review and see if you agree!
@@PlaguedbyVisions Ha! Sounds like a plan!
@@BookBlather awesome! And don’t say I didn’t warn you 🥸 I feel like you’ll at least get a laugh out of it.
@@PlaguedbyVisions As you’ll remember from Discord, I was sitting down to read this last night. I could barely take a break to go to the bathroom. So, you and I do not completely agree about this book (watch for the video). I was going to say, “I’m afraid to say we don’t agree,” but I guess I’m actually “excited” to say we don’t agree… should lead to some interesting discussion! I’m going to pass this along as you suggested, and I’m thinking that maybe once it makes some rounds, this would warrant a livestream spoiler roundtable discussion? Of course, that would mean I’d have to learn how to livestream…
@@BookBlather Great to hear it, Dave! And if you really liked it, of course, you’re allowed to keep it! This book definitely warrants discussion-I’ll give it that!
"Blenders on Grindr" sounds like an EDM artist.
I was very bothered by the representation in this book. The plot also seemed unlikely. I still don't know how I feel about it.
GRINDRBLENDER is how it would be spelled. I usually don’t mind ridiculous plots, but I felt like this wasn’t trying to be that? It was the literary equivalent of a teacher telling students not to laugh.
"It's like an Alice Cooper concert --"
Well see that makes me *want* to read it 🙃
fr though this one has been on my TBR list, as the premise sounded good and that cover art is gorgeous. I still wanna give it a go, I'll just have to not expect anything too profound.
Haha, yeah, by all means, give it a try! That’s a good expectation to have going into it. Sadly, as you may see, the author INSISTS on the fact that it’s profound, so it’s kind of hard to keep up that disposition.
I might have checked this out anyway because it sounds interesting, I’ve done it before. But my thing is I don’t need L-word misery content because I already have enough of my own L-word misery of my own.
😂😂😂
Just read this book about 2 weeks ago and while I enjoyed the premise and style of the story telling it feels like the biggest bait and switch based on that damn cover. I absolutely LOVE the cover and was so excited to read it especially after all the hype but it was a huge disappointment. 💔
I’d recommend reading The Sluts by Dennis Cooper! LaRocca borrowed heavily from that concept, but Cooper’s novel is masterfully written.
I was laughing so hard at the tapeworm. 😂🤣
The cover is spectacular, the book sounds extremely dumb. Any writer comparing their own work to other peoples work is like an artist calling their own work a masterpiece 😶 that’s just a no no for me, so thanks for reviewing this. I will skip it.
Glad you found this useful! Yes, there was a lot in the book, beyond the author’s self-praise, that read as pompous and pretentious. Not a very good book, but I agree, pretty to look at!
Ha, I'm with you. I saw the cover and was like, wow, I really want to read this book! Then, I heard it was trending on tik tok or twitter or some nonsense...and the author's pretentious opinion of their own book, proudly displayed...Nope. I think I just miss the old school book covers (like from the 80s and 90s is what I'm thinking of) which were works of art. Popular, pulpy art sometimes, but always interesting...
Your thumbnail for this is fantastic!
30 seconds on photoshop can do wonders! Don’t read this book, Gina! Lol.
Plagued by Visions nope, I figured. I didn’t even watch the entire video!
😂 always a smart decision here on this channel!
Agreed, Gina! I cracked up as soon as I saw the thumbnail!
With all the praise around it and talk of the gruesomeness, I expected more out of it but by the end there wasn't much pay-off to it for me? We got to the end with that tapeworm baby and I was losing it because of how ridiculous it was. It was the least expected thing to happen and happened way too suddenly for me to keep up with.
There was also nothing to keep us up-to-date on the Zoe aspect of the novella because while it makes sense that she'd be blamed as this was the early 2000s because internet and how it was viewed at the time, who they were sexuality wise (discrimination), and their relationship was questionable in terms of what it was and how it came to play in Agnes' mental health - it fell flat. As flat as that tapeworm baby. I do wish LaRocca would've given us details in an author's note or interview somewhere because while I don't mind ambiguous things, this was too many questions left unanswered. But I did like the vibes of it, I just wish there was something More.
On a positive note, your videos and the way you discuss books is so well-done and thorough. You do such a good job and are a gem, thank you for all the hard work you put into these videos. :D
So it’s been over a year now, and I don’t remember a lot of details, but I do remember being equally frustrated with how abandoned the whole “found text” concept was abandoned. It really went nowhere and was only there for who knows what. Like I said in the video, some more play with the format to make it significant would have been nice! Otherwise, why even introduce it as “this really happened omg!”?
Thank you for your kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed this review!
I liked aspects of this book, but like many others I was disappointed by the pacing and the length. Their relationship progresses far too quickly and I feel like it tries to explore too many ideas in too little time. It ends up reading more like a first draft of a longer novel instead of an effective short story. I hold out this sliver of hope that due to the popularity, that the author returns to this work and maybe 'uncovers more emails and DMs' in an expanded version or sequel. I would be super interested to see other writers take aspects of this story and expand further. The narrative format sees ample opportunity for people to expand further on thsi story
So I just finished this novella and this is the first review I find that tackles almost all the same frustrations I had about it except two:
- The whole tapeworm ordeal? Stolen from the Blowfly Girl's blog. If y'all don't know about it, look it up and tell me there's no similarities.
- The ending with the apple peeler was predictable as fuck and probably pays homage to the ending scene in "π" by Aronofsky. He drills his skull, she drills her eyes with the damn peeler.
I mean, come on. This on top of all the derivative shit the review and comments already rightfully pointed out.
Did I hate the book? No. Was I often incredibly mad at it because it could have been great but it settled for mid? YES.
I agree with your assessment, but also often hesitate to blame the book. Yes, the book’s conventions were very mediocre and derivative, but I kind of mostly blame all the TikTok peeps that overhyped the shit out of it for me. And I’m not even on TikTok! That’s how loud the buzz for this was.
@@PlaguedbyVisions yeah, I similarly found out about this one and while I did find it moderately interesting, as someone who has been a fan of "grotesque" art all her life I was like...is this it? Seen it all before.
I really want to read this. Love your review!!!
By all means, give it a shot! So many people have gotten something different out of it.
Love the thumbnail haha
One of my finest pieces…
Just finished this book a couple of hours ago and wanted to find some reviews that shared my frustration with it. Found yours and I absolutely agree with you on the stupid tapeworm thing.
The tapeworm was honestly my favorite part, but for all the wrong reasons. 😂 Yeah, really wished for a little more self-awareness. Everything just felt imbued with an “I’m trying way too hard” sensibility.
im glad it was so short because i would of hated to waste more than 2 hours on this book
Yes, at least it didn’t have the nerve to be 300 pages!
I think this book tried to be a Todd Solondz film instead, but just like his filmography, some is just...meh. LaRocca won't come close to 'Crash' anytime soon (especially after hearing about You've Lost a Lot of Blood).
Now we've gotten to the tapeworm; this book sounds like something John Waters would love.
I think it’s more something John Waters would have done A LOT better.
@@PlaguedbyVisions True, but I also think he might enjoy the book as bad as it might be. Maybe for that reason.
"since we last talked about Kevin" I lol😂. I got a few of his but it seems hyping more than it was really that good. He meanders.
I’ve heard the most mixed of things about their writing, and I can’t say it hasn’t made me curious to check out more of it haha.
huh, what a waste of great cover art and title (which in fact reminds me of „I’m thinking of ending things” by Iain Reid which was great book, creepier, weirder and imo much better than movie)
Curiously, I wasn’t really really a fan of that book, either. 🤭 I’m honestly not even hard to please when it comes horror! Perhaps there’s a certain sensibility to horror that I’m just not a fan of.
yeah i feel like this is only liek insanely upsetting and disturbing if you never read horror. it was very creepypasta
I can definitely see that. I guess it’s a good introduction for the uninitiated!
So, there you have: a popular book that you don't like. Great and eloquent video, as always.
True! This shall be my go-to answer now! Thank you for watching, M. C.A!
Do you live in the Rio Grande Valley?
Nope! I’m in California. :)
While I agree...this is not a great book at all. In the beginning, she was selling the apple peeler on a community board, not a dating site. LOL
Really? But I seem to recall specifically a passage in which Agnes herself says it’s ridiculous to be selling an apple peeler on a dating site… hm, now who knows? Who cares? 🤭
@@PlaguedbyVisions I was going to begin this with some absurd comment about the irony of posting about an apple peeler in a queer discussion forum when most of us are probably triggered by the mere mention of the word “fruit.”
Eric LaRocca. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (Kindle Locations 76-77).
Ah, that’s what it was! Thankfully, that premise is still just as ridiculous.
Oh, hey, just a quick one: you say you mostly read 20th century literature, but have you read Don Quixote? I mostly read 20th century lit, too, but Don Q is the exception. The funniest book I've ever read, period. I started reading it on my daily train journeys to work and had to stop because I kept bursting out laughing and couldn't stop lol.
I read only a small segment of it in college, but I’m definitely not opposed to finishing it! It just seems like it will be a year-long project.
@@PlaguedbyVisions Indeed! It's hard going to get used to the antiquated vernacular, but it's a large part of what makes it so funny, IMHO. You're right, though, it's one of those ones you know you're going to be with for a long while, so it's tough to get started.
This book doesn’t work on many levels, but the repulsiveness of the “baby” made it worth my time. I really like that concept.
I’m glad it worked for you! I can honestly see why people enjoyed this. I’m just sad to say it wasn’t for me.
@@PlaguedbyVisions I actually agree with everything you say in this video, it just somehow gave me a positive feeling. When I read it I didn’t know about all the grandiose comparisons the author made to other authors, which might have soured me. I like how Agnes actually has all the control, so she basically decides do take it to that level. I also like to think that Zoey is a bit tongue and cheek with her demands, but since they only write to each other, the socially deficient Agnes takes it seriously and carries Zoey’s demands without irony. The best thing about the book is that it has high suggestibility factor, because it’s only a couple hours read, and the concept that the only way these lesbians have a baby together is a filthy tapeworm is a very satisfying and funny thought. I like books that have moments that can make people squirm even if they haven’t read it, simply by me explaining one simple concept.
this sums up almost all my thoughts regarding this book🥶
i finished it in an hour and it was so disappointing
it read like a thread of bad tweets with ostentatious badly executed imagery and terrible continuity (its too small for its purpose!!)
also very unprecedented in its pretentiousness, for a tiny unsurprising overdone book
and i dont wanna be a bitch (but as a lesbian i think i have some credit with the author lol) but even their acknowledgments were embarrassing and pretentious, honestly more gory than the rest of the book 🫣
they should've stayed in their lane fr
All I have to add to this is, it’s been almost a year since I read this book and I’ve forgotten most of it, but I do distinctly remember rolling my eyes at the acknowledgments page. 😂
Great review. I'm still tempted to read it just for the way cool cover.
By all means, please do! A lot of people have liked it. Maybe I’m just a grouch. It’s possible! But I’ll be curious to see if you also find it predictable and unintentionally humorous.
It's incredible how much this sounds like The Sluts, and with the author comparing their work to Dennis Cooper you know that this was trying to at least somewhat emulate it. It really seems like this is just a wannabe sitch. Too bad. People should just read Dennis Cooper instead.
Holy shit, you just answered so many questions for me: Why the insistence on transgression, why the chat room, why the early 2000s? Even with the author directly comparing themselves to Dennis Cooper I didn’t put it together, BUT YES! This is 100% a rip-off. Everything makes sense now. Yet another reason to dismiss it!
Totally understandable why such books are circulated of hypes and such. Lower attention spans and the weird need and desire of recent booktok communities to read less and less and faster and faster.
It would make sense if it was like teenagers because that type of escalation in early teen lesbian relationships was exactly like that. Especially in early internet days. However, the acts they both perform and the language as well as the financial dependency don't fit that at all. It implies they are middle aged women by the way they talk but behave like children. Very confusing. I enjoyed it nonetheless, but probably will never go back to it. Too disturbing for the sake of being disturbing. No real reason behind it other than to be gross.
Oh, it’s been years now, it seems! I barely remember this book. 😂
@@PlaguedbyVisions it just showed up at my local library, and since they hardly ever stock horror of any kind I felt compelled to read it. Not what I expected hahaha I appreciated your review!
Just read this and thought it was hilarious. That ending, I kept imagining tapeworm's first day at school. Waste of (thankfully a short amount of) time.
Tapeworm Baby was giving “ew look at this crazy cooky take on reproduction!” But it was really just… lame lol.
I didn’t really like it very much. I think there was too much emphasis placed on “horror.” Just didn’t get the shock I wanted out of it
The focus on cheap shock value and trying to adorn it as something deeper was a bit too transparent for me as well.
Just finished it. I do not understand the hype whatsoever tbh
You and I both! Truly a misfire for me, a baffling set of choices that led nowhere. However, I’m happy other people have enjoyed it!
Normally, tapeworms make me extremely uncomfortable, but hearing you talk about the tapeworm baby made me burst out laughing. I’m just imagining a tapeworm in a baby carriage, pacifier and all, with the mom being this eldritch abomination. 😭 With how absurd with this book sounds like I’m DEFINITELY going to be listening to an audiobook of this book.
I so would have preferred if the author had taken it that route. Just make it an uplifting story about raising a tapeworm baby!
I am very late to the party lol. I have mixed feelings about this one. I think there was a huge mismatch between the content and the format. These women wrote lengthy, poetic letters right away... about selling an apple peeler. At some points I found the prose quite beautiful, but since it was supposed to be in emails, it just came off pretentious. Also I didn't see the development of their relationship believable. The tapeworm thing was just hilarious, the author really should have leaned into the absurdity.
I wanted that tapeworm to come out and say, “How you like THEM apples?!”
Surprise...the horror isn't IN the book...it IS the book...
The horror was the friends we made along the way.
I agree with your review. This book was honestly wtf lol
some bullshit! that's just a perfect review!
🐂💩
I was so disappointed with this book tbh
You and me, my friend. ❤️
I read 1 page creepy pastas better than this book.
Bruh 😂
i hate the name fineas because of this book
I've already read it! ^^ It was so short that I said... what da hell! So yeah ^^ I read it!
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Meh 🤷
“Meh” could’ve really been the entire review.
I knew I was likely setting myself up for disappointment when I saw that a novel about lesbians-let alone a dark, exploitative one-was written by someone who isn’t one.
It definitely failed the marks of bringing a true sense of humanity to the characters. I think it was a lot more exploitative than the author realized, and I could see that that wasn’t their intent, which made it feel so clumsy.
So glad I never bought it lol
😂
You're adorable🥰
Who? This ol’ bag of bones? Lmao. Thanks, sis!
@@PlaguedbyVisions of course🙌
It was a garbage book.
Amen.
very late to this video, but my god do I hate this book!!!
the portrayal of lesbians is SO uncomfortable to read, its so empty and ugh, what a waste of paper....
I didn’t feel comfortable commenting on this subject since I am a cis man, but what I will say is that they are indeed very tired and overused cliches that the author didn’t really do much with.