Reviews

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

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lila1921's review against another edition

3.0

It's disturbing to say the least. The twist at the end was also very anti climactic and disappointing. I was hoping for some much more from this book.

fionamango's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

easy read, quite a simple writing style but interesting enough to keep you reading. there isn't a lot of dialogue, and most of it is retold and rephrased through marcos' own understanding. and there is a lot of detached, matter-of-fact description of body horror. also a lot of abandoned zoo description. i understand needing to set the scene, but sometimes, it droned on a bit too much. if zoo descriptions were a gun, im not quite sure it ever went off. might just be me. maybe i need to closely read it more.

the book works really well as social/political commentary. i think it could've had more of an emotional impact, but i understand that it's largely due to the distance created by the use of marcos' narrative voice. i enjoyed his unreliability as well, the morality and his almost imploring way of getting the reader to emphasize with him. woe-is-me manhood fr!

i had to reread the last line of The First Fuck chapter, because i wasn't sure if i understood it correctly. was genuinely shocked at the time jump at the next chap though, seeing that Jasmine was 8 months pregnant. knowing that the book only had a couple pages left and seeing what was happening during the end, it was still a gut-wrenching end.

that last line.... might just be a translation error, but i'm not quite sure if it feels like a rewarding gotcha revelatory moment where the pieces fall together. like yes, we know that marcos was never the moral man he purported to be through his pov, and that much is clear through his contradictory acts, but somehow it felt like the sucker punch could've been expounded on a bit more. maybe a sentence or two would've tied it together. maybe i'm just sentimental. either way, fuck marcoses fr. fun read!

chacoulso's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

ghostbustersofficial's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

i am willing to suspend my disbelief for anything if the author is willing to take me there, but this whole book felt like the author was trying to apologize for and over-explain the premise while never actually getting to the point. the main character is a horrible wet rag of a man that mopes around the entire book, and one of the most uninteresting people to explore this world through. as a societal commentary it was incredibly muddled and didn’t say much besides “misogyny bad” or “humans are violent” which is. well. boring. tragic that i was so bored by a spooky cannibalism book

ayzorah's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad

4.0

kristenkrae's review against another edition

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5.0

5 stars because of how disgustingly disturbed it made me. Not because I enjoyed it. Because I honestly hated it. However, if a book can make me feel THAT way. Then well done.