Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

983 reviews

parkerluck's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I was rec'd this based off of how much I like Oryx and Crake and it was indeed in line! Good writing, I didn't feel like the violence or content was "gratuitous" or shock over substance or whatever else. The subject matter is horrific so heed warnings, but it's explored well and I felt it was pretty in line with, again, O&C or other bleak dystopia stuff. Enjoyed the character work for the MC, the rest of the cast wasn't as fleshed out but didn't really need to be for such a quick read. 

The people saying the ending was a "twist" don't know how to read imo. The book does a good job of building Marcos, showing you who he is, who he thinks he is, how he fits into the world.

As far as unreliable narrators go, he's not even very unreliable and the story doesn't try to conceal what he's doing or capable of doing at any point. Combined with the Icarus thread he tells himself at the end (it doesn't matter if you fall, what matters is that for a moment you were a bird), it's a very basic set up and execution of him as a character. Frustrating to see other people have so much trouble with the dissonance between the actual narrative and the narrative Marcos himself constructs tbh but what can you do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Rape, and Gore

jojothefool's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book……… is so messed up. I really enjoyed myself. But basically after every chapter I would put the book down and reflect, “….. what the HELL am I reading?” And then I’d pick it back up and keep going. Very dark, very disturbing, but really makes you think about kind of everything? Government corruption, the meat industry, the class system, the inherit value of man……. I can’t give it 5 stars because it messed with me too hard, but it was very well written and a very interesting read that I would recommend if you can handle the content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, Child death, Torture, Murder, Death of parent, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Trafficking, Classism, and Excrement

Minor: Rape

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This book had such potential and was such a cool premise but it fell short in a couple areas for me. 

It focused so hard on the gore of it all that the really interesting psychological aspects were buried. I was expected to take a lot on faith as a reader, which fine, but then the main character doesn’t even trust that the virus is real. 

I needed the book to be from any other characters perspective. She took the most boring character in a cast of very interesting characters. 

The story felt weirdly stilted. We got huge internal dialogue pieces and then the ending is so rushed. It felt very off. 

The premise was good and I wanted to love this book but it just was not what I wanted it to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Infertility, Torture, Trafficking, Death, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Excrement, Death of parent, Rape, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

0leander's review against another edition

dark reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It's a decent commentary on the meat industry and partially on capitalism as a whole, but if you're already familiar with the workings of slaughterhouse there's very little new horror to this novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pregnancy, Cannibalism, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, and Slavery

Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Animal death, Child death, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Rape, and Death of parent

dnietoperafan's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Me le quito el sombrero a Agustina Bazterrica. Esta novela va a estar implantada en mi memoria para siempre.

Mi hermana me recomendo este libro. He sido vegetariana desde hace 2 años ya, y mi hermana sabía que disfrutaría este libro de una manera macabra. 

Las descripciones de Bazterrica son de las cosas más grotescas que he leido en mi vida (en la mejor forma posible). Ese mundo distópico que creó no se siente tan lejano. Amo como algunas preguntas no se resuelven através de la historia, lo cual hizo que el libro se sientiera más real (?). 

Los personajes están muy bien caracterizados. Amé como Bazterrica no nos tenía que decir como eran las personalidades de ciertos personajes, ella solo nos lo mostraba através de sus acciones. 

De verdad me gustó esta novela, y la recomendaría a los lectores de estómago fuerte.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, Sexual content, Torture, and Cannibalism

niamhrowanch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

she has the human look of a domesticated animal?!?!!!?!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Slavery, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Violence, Infertility, Trafficking, Excrement, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Blood, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Rape, and Torture

mlynn2004's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Torture, and Gore

Moderate: Child death

pantslint's review against another edition

4.0

I'll write a clearer review after a re-read. This book is horrific tho, no doubt. A quick read, too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Dementia, Animal death, Slavery, Torture, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Miscarriage

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Alcohol

kmart29's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.0

Could only read this book on an empty stomach. Very graphic and disturbing, yet oddly the first half of the book is boring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, Death, Gore, Confinement, Murder, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Violence, and Animal cruelty

anjae's review

dark sad fast-paced

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

3.5

This was so nasty and I wish I could wipe it from my brain, but I’m also glad I read it. It’s a pretty on-the-nose analogy for mass industrial animal agriculture, but it still worked really well. This was well written and captivating, but I don’t know if I would ever recommend it to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Dementia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Child death, Confinement, Death, Murder, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Torture, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy