Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

42 reviews

psyched_np's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Bit of a brain fuck. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Infertility, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gore, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Slavery, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Murder

rachelreads2453's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This book is one that, I believe, will stick with me for a while. There were some fascinating thoughts and quotes about what happens when, as a society, people use language to make the disturbing and unpalatable feel commonplace. I went into this book with an open mind, and was shocked by the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Dementia, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Medical content, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Classism

rhianonw's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Infertility, Gore, Death, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Dementia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Self harm, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Excrement, and Drug use

Minor: Alcohol, Slavery, Abortion, Confinement, Suicide, and Infidelity

tyrannosaurus_lex's review

dark sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, and Torture

Moderate: Abortion, Child death, and Chronic illness

Minor: Rape

Was it a good book? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely not. I almost didn’t finish it. It’s punishing to get through and disturbing in every way.

meggers's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

The level of brutality in this book does not match with a strong message.  There are a few opportunities for the author to have made a stronger statement but it never pans out.  When this book only focuses on factory farming the violence and brutality is just torture porn not "making a statement" 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Gore, Grief, and Torture

metalcutesolid's review

dark emotional reflective 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Dementia, Excrement, Infidelity, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Animal death, Rape, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Cannibalism, and Sexual violence

lakeus's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I think this book as convinced me to become a vegetarian 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

miascupoftea's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this is one of those books where it’s written amazingly like there’s no flaws in the technique or world-building or anything, but it so hard to read just because of how heavy the subject matter is. i thought i knew what i was getting into with this one but i didn’t. not at all. it was so hard to finish this book because every chapter was just more nightmare fuel. BUT it was extremely well-written and a great concept. it’s kinda scary how much more certain parts of the subject matter are relevant post-2020.

i also really am in awe of how much  the author took current issues and found a way to add the whole eating-humans thing to it, like with debt, hunting, science experiments, sex trafficking, etc. i also absolutely hated the ending, but it was true to the narrative and tone so i shouldn’t have expected anything different.

this book Is really good, but i don’t think i’ll ever recommend it to anyone because of how gruesome it is 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Animal death, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Vomit, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Violence, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death of parent, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Murder, and Grief

ogik's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

megafish's review against another edition

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

Tender is the flesh is gut-wrenching and vile, it's disgusting how fascinating it is. I don't think I can recommend this to anyone who does not know what this story entails.
I have read more gruesome things but they also usually have been more heartless, and there definitely is an argument that can be made on how much of the detailed descriptions are needed to progress the point of the story. I personally however was so invested in the atmosphere that I enjoyed the read a lot. I do have to say that the premisse is a big stretch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Dementia, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Excrement, Child death, and Death of parent