Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

1958 reviews

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Really well written, very unique idea, terribly graphic, unlikeable main character (although sort of sympathetic), with a kind of abrupt and strange ending

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challenging dark emotional reflective
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

If you can stomach it, read this book. 

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This book is very disturbing and not for the faint-stomached at all, but it is also oddly intriguing because of how messed up it is šŸ˜…šŸ„“

The premise of the story is utterly horrifying, especially when you could easily see this becoming a thing in the future! The whole book was weird and disgusting, but I was surprised by the ending and did not see it turning out that way beforehand. Although in hindsight, I suppose it was kind of obvious that would happen!

It’s odd because none of the characters are likeable, but I found the MC hard to read at times. Sometimes he has traces of compassion glinting through, then others he doesn’t. You can’t really tell what his true thoughts actually are.

Sometimes I found the writing was confusing as the author refers to the MC as ā€œheā€ a lot, so sometimes, like in scenes with other males, it’s not always absolutely obvious whether ā€œheā€ means the MC or the other male figure in the scene, and sometimes it takes another sentence or two before you click which ā€œheā€ the author means.

There were some really strange metaphors too that didn’t really make sense to me, for instance, ā€œHis sister’s words are like boxes filled with blank paperā€, and ā€œHis sister’s words are like dried leaves piled up in a corner, rottingā€. What does that even really mean?! It added to the weirdness of the book, for sure.

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark informative reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book wrote about the realities of society hidden behind a post-apocalyptic theme. The realities of classism, capitalism, greed, systemic control wrapped in carnage. 

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dark sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Gut-wrenching and nausea-inducing. This work is an extended metaphor about the barbarity of capitalism. I'm not as well-versed in contemporary Latin American literature as I'd like to be but I can definitely see the magical realist and leftist influences at play here. 

Would be interested to read the original Spanish text--some readers and critics have commented that the translation reads as dry and clinical, but my guess is that's the tone that the author and translator intended (the characters are clinically detached from the atrocities they are daily committing and cosigning). 

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