Reviews tagging 'Death'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

1230 reviews

underscoremeg's review

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dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Despite the content warnings, this book was easy to consume! The writing is skillful and detailed without being disgusting. 

In the future, the animals of the world come down with a virus that is lethal to humans, making them unable to be eaten. Because of this, humans have resorted to commercializing cannibalism. 

The main character is the manager of a meat processing plant and the book follows him through his experiences working with other businesses in the meat market, including breeders, hunters, butchers, and leather goods. We see the world through his perspective, learning his feelings about the state of the world as well as his own personal life and challenges. 

This book was described to me as deeply disturbing and disgusting. I wasn’t bothered by much of the gore. There is DEFINITELY gore, but it’s all described in such a detached manner that it’s really not a body horror disgust. The horror of this book was much more mental for me - the thought of humans being raised to be slaughtered for meat is crazy. 

The book takes things a step further, though, when the main character is gifted a female and he slowly begins to treat her like a real person, rather than an animal to be slaughtered. 

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kennawicc's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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ktdakotareads's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

4.0


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bodiless's review

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dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

this was the most insane book ever

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angelicaro's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-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

3.25


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2busyreading's review

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dark sad tense fast-paced

4.25


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sic_vic's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Wtf did I just read? The author was so detailed and thoughtful with the entire process of cannibalism. This is extremely graphic and detailed. It’s literally an A24 horror film. 


<Spoiler> below













The ending messed me up soooo bad. Why did it have to end so abrupt? I wish I found out if the teenagers had the virus. I wonder if he caught the virus when petting the puppies, since he coughs and looks ill at the end of the book. 


I saw someone say that his morality changed when he ate meat again. After losing his dad, he had nothing morally keeping him grounded. He was rude to the nurse who was also grieving Marco’s dad’s death. He felt like he didn’t owe her respect anymore because his dad was gone. He could do whatever he wanted, even if he was disgusted with everyone else. He stopped viewing people as people. He was okay with killing scavengers because they were the bottom of the population resorting to cannibalism in a desperate situation. He was okay with poisoning them in revenge for Luis the driver. He was okay with killing Jasmine because his wife came back and now had a son again. His wife didn’t have good morality either, since she was interested in getting more kids out of her. At the end Marcos had nothing keeping him at a disadvantage, so he began accepting the system. What once was cruel and a sacrifice for him, at the end became the benefit and sacrifice of others. Even if their sacrifices weren’t consensual. (As he once stated himself)

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q_bert13's review

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challenging dark 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? No

3.0

A dark, frightening look at a dystopian capitalist world ‘forced’ into cannibalism via an animal-attacking virus. Don’t go into this book looking for likeable characters either. Overall the storyline is interesting, with twists you don’t expect. The book so separated in two parts (with a time jump between them), with part one going much slower than the second half. I feel like the inclusion of a middle chapter, either featuring the main characters or just focusing on the society as a whole would help ‘flesh out’ the story (pun not intended). 

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w17liams's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

What on earth was that

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roxiehrt's review

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dark 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

3.0

Wow. This book is depressing. I watch depressing true crime docs for a living and this was tough to get through even for me. Very graphic sections of murder, cannibalism, and dehumanizing behaviors…this is one of the most nihilistic books I’ve ever read. I gave it a 3 because it is well written and the intentions of the book really resonated, but it was a challenge to get through because the content was just…a lot…like…A LOT. 

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