[Review] We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric LaRocca

We Can Never Leave This Place

Eric LaRocca

JournalStone

4/5 Stars

Trigger Warnings: Child abuse, body horror, death, gaslighting, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, implied zoophilia, incest. 

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that has read any of Eric’s previous works that this novella is delightfully weird, disturbing, and wonderful. I found that We Can Never Leave This Place has a surrealistic quality to it. During the reading, I almost felt as if I was having a fever dream, a darker version of Alice in Wonderland. Set in a time and place ridden by conflict and destruction, the novella is centered on a mother and daughter navigating their grief after the loss of their husband and father. It is very clear from the beginning that the mother-daughter relationship is extremely abusive and the mother’s hostility towards her daughter results in neither of them being able to rely on each other for emotional support. This, in turn, is what makes the mother so vulnerable to the manipulative Rake, one of the many villains in this story. 

I’m not usually a fan of stories that heavily feature animals, especially insects, and snakes, as is the case with We Can Never Leave This Place, that’s why I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. Eric crafted the spider Rake with the same care and mastery as he did all his human characters and, although the other animals/insects were not as well developed, I believe that was intentional, seeing as it contributed to the surreal ambiance that permeates the novella. Although he is a spider, Rake represents many opportunist humans that are searching for an emotionally vulnerable victim that they can latch onto and exploit, manipulating them until they feel as if they could never leave the abusive situation, even if they wanted to. The title of the novella is very fitting with its main theme, abusive relationships, and familial traumas, seeing as the victims involved in those situations often feel like they can never escape that situation, that they can never leave that place. 

My favorite thing from this novella is the Lament for a Lost Unicorn and how the protagonist changes this tale and its message by the end of the book. Mara's dad used to tell her a story about a man that, after having someone try to steal his unicorn, saws off its horn, and when the unicorn questions how the man could’ve done that, he replies “I wanted to be the only one to hurt you.” This took the wind out of me the first time I read it because it encapsulates abusive relationships so perfectly, especially when the abuser is the victim’s main caregiver. I loved how Eric took that tale and had Mara (the MC) twist it by the end of the book. In her version of the story, the man escapes to the woods with the unicorn and says “I’m getting you out of here. So you’ll never be hurt by anyone ever again.” This is a beautiful metaphor for breaking familial trauma, where, instead of wishing to inflict on others the same hurt they’ve been subjected to, the individual opts to turn into their protector. 

As is the case with all of LaRocca’s stories, this one is very graphic and features several stomach-churning scenes. The author does not shy away from depicting the messy and cruel aspects that are often present in mother-daughter relationships, so please be mindful of the trigger warnings and take breaks during the reading if you need to