Eric LaRocca

Each precious thing I show you in this book is a holy relic from the night we both perished-the night when I combed you from my hair and watered the moon with your blood.



You've lost a lot of blood . . .

You've Lost a Lot of Blood

Gloria 💖

“Stuck in my mind. Like our brains are made of flypaper and our thoughts are little insects to be captured, caught, and killed.”

“In my thoughts, I would tell him: ‘you’ll find me tucked away in the blistered sinew of what was once healthy and pink, and now tender and black.’”

“For once, I’d like to see myself outside of myself. If that even makes sense. I’d like to crawl outside of my head and look back at all the horrible things I’ve become, the soulless spirit residing inside my shell.”

I went into this blindly and was immediately taken aback by the structure. I felt like this hindered me to really immerse myself into the characters and the story.. really wanted to like this 

Lili

tori 👻

I really enjoyed the prose, LaRocca's writing is beautiful and atmospheric, but the novella within the story was a lot more interesting than the main plot.

I really liked the beautifully prosaic writing style and the composition of this book. The main story, however, feels a bit too fragmentary for my taste, and I would have loved to get to know the protagonists better.

Nezumi

jess larry

im so disappointed 

the novella was boring, the dialogues felt unnatural & the writing pretentious

its so crazy because i LOVED his other book (title is too long but you know which one) 

but yeah, i literally finished it out of spite

I don't have a clue why I do this to myself but every Eric LaRocca book I read leaves me feeling like someone has taken my brain, smashed it with a hammer and put it back in my head (in the best way possible ofc). While I didn't particularly understand the connection between Martyr and Ambrose's story and the novella (apart from Martyr 'writing' it) but both plot lines were absolutely gripping. There are some moments purposely unelaborated on which not only leaves me confused as all hell but keeps me turning the pages knowing I have no clue what's going on. I always trust this author will bring me the most jaw-dropping ending that I wont be expecting and it's all worth it. This book was no different.

ariah 

After reading Things have gotten worse since we last spoke , I was fully excited to have stumbled on yet another book by LaRocca however I was slightly disappointed as I made my way through You’ve lost a lot of blood. 

Unfortunately the two stories in the book were not as appealing as the last book I read. I think it may be as they are interweaved yet don’t connect to each other in any way or form. 

I’ll still give this a 3/5 as whilst I do wish they were rather two standalones, I did also find myself finishing this book in one sitting. 

Nikita

After reading Things have gotten worse since we last spoke , I was fully excited to have stumbled on yet another book by LaRocca however I was slightly disappointed as I made my way through You’ve lost a lot of blood. 

Unfortunately the two stories in the book were not as appealing as the last book I read. I think it may be as they are interweaved yet don’t connect to each other in any way or form. 

I’ll still give this a 3/5 as whilst I do wish they were rather two standalones, I did also find myself finishing this book in one sitting. 

A good, short read for fans of dark surrealism. I finished it in an hour. Leaves something to be desired along with some editing mistakes that come along with self-publishing. Worth the read, I just wish the author had marinated on it just a bit longer.

Effie W

I don’t think I can give a full review without spoiling this book, you definitely have to go in completely blind. 

I really enjoyed this novella, the writing style was captivating and the novella within was my favourite. 

If you like horror and thought provoking reads then I highly recommend. 

jaz ☁️

I don’t think I can give a full review without spoiling this book, you definitely have to go in completely blind. 

I really enjoyed this novella, the writing style was captivating and the novella within was my favourite. 

If you like horror and thought provoking reads then I highly recommend. 

(Check TWS) 

Jade Iveson

I still have no idea what to rate this book, what the fuck happened

Catherine

I read Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke a little bit ago and didn't particularly enjoy it, so I came into this hoping that LaRocca's second attempt in the epistolary novel genre would be better. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. The introduction by the editor felt strange, almost unnecessary, and despite him insisting that he wasn't trying to glamorize what Martyn and Ambrose had done, the collection definitely came off in that light. I didn't buy his repeated insistence that he was merely trying to humanize these monsters and offer the families peace of mind—and if my disbelief is supposed to be part of the effect, I can't see how that would have helped the story. The editor claims that he had no interaction with Martyn and Ambrose in their activities and there is no reason for a reader to believe that he would harbor sympathies towards the two of them—partially because the editor has no personality at all. It seems obvious that the editor merely functions as an excuse for LaRocca to justify the epistolary format. 

Throughout the piece, LaRocca's penchant for and ability to craft pretty lines ruins him. The two characters of investigation, Martyn and Ambrose, speak in overwrought lines that are outright cringey to imagine someone saying out loud and sound entirely unnatural. This might be purposeful commentary on the pretentious nature of the two men, but I am not generous enough to give LaRocca credit for that considering his characters in Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke speak the same way. 

The novel within the novel was even worse than the epistolary notes somehow with the writing in being very amateurish. This might have been intentional to highlight aspects of Martyn, the supposed author of the novel, but it did not make for an enjoyable reading experience—and bad writing can't be redeemed by the fact it belies clever symbolism.

Natasha Bree

My brain was in ‘what the fuck’ mode for the entirety of this book

Abigail Joyann

3 stars

This one was disappointing for me—compared to LaRocca's other work, this book fell flat. The focus story gave very little and I found myself not interested in it. The novella within this story was the most interesting and the flipping back and forth between the characters we are following and the novella was frustrating since I only cared about one.

So let's talk about the novella. Despite how good it was, it also wasn't that original as I've read stuff like it before, however, I was connected to the characters within. A videogame that may be a videogame within a videogame with constant repetitions and deaths was a mindfuck but was super engaging to read. It was the only aspect that kept me reading and for that, I still recommend this book.

You've Lost a Lot of Blood

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