The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories
Ratings20
Average rating4.3
A beautifully crafted, devastating short fiction collection from the Bram-Stoker finalist and author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes. Includes an introduction from acclaimed bestselling author Chuck Wendig. Eight stories of dark fiction from a master storyteller. Exploring the shadow side of love, these are tales of grief, obsession, control. Intricate examinations of trauma and tragedy in raw, poetic prose. A woman imagines horrific scenarios whilst caring for her infant niece; on-line posts chronicle a cancer diagnosis; a couple in the park with their small child encounter a stranger with horrific consequences; a toxic relationship reaches a terrifying resolution... A beautifully crafted, devastating short fiction collection from the Bram Stoker Awards® finalist and author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes.
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loved this collection! the average of the stories together was a 4.5 but there were some standouts and some that weren't my fav from eric but eric knows how to do a collection.
Some of the stories in this collection are what I would call family horror, and they are the genre at its finest, approach with caution if you have trauma on that side.
With LaRocca's signature highly stylized writing the horror takes on a deeply evocative nature rather than a graphic one, although the stories are often also graphic.
Here horror is both from the outside and from deep inside in a blend that could have only been achieved by LaRocca. Hell is not always others, sometimes hell is what swirls behind our eyes and it takes guts the write that side of horror in such an unflinching way. Because of the themes a certain discomfort is guaranteed while reading. LaRocca also captures the horror of cancer and perhaps of sickness in general on a deep level, a theme that seems to be recurrent for them.
I received a digital copy of this book from Titan Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Even though not every story was perfect, the ones that were made it a 5 star read. I loved Bodies are for Burning, The Strange Thing We Become, You're Not Supposed to be Here, Where Flames Burned Emerald as Grass, and I'll be Gone by Then. The others still had aspects about them that I liked. The horror was truly unsettling and smart; it really made me think. The themes in You're Not Supposed to be Here in particular will be in my mind forever.
