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amberhammer's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Sexual assault, Racism, Pregnancy, Child death, Infertility, Rape, and Sexual content
Minor: Fatphobia
simp4sneks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Death of parent, Dementia, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Hate crime, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Sexism
buttercup06's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Excrement, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Animal cruelty, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Excrement, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Infidelity, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent and Adult/minor relationship
forestfeyrie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Fatphobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, and Emotional abuse
lokes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Excrement, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexism
morganpearcy's review
5.0
What I love so much about this book is hard to put into words. At its core, Tender is the Flesh explores how systems of oppression strip us of our humanity, normalize violence and turn human beings into another consumable, another form of capital. I could easily write an entire essay using this story as an allegory for modern Capitalism.
Augustina Bazterrica does a splendid job of building tension throughout the book, leading to a surprise ending that will make the reader’s head explode a wee bit. In total, this book will make you think. The main character is relatable. The other characters and their interactions with the main character offer insights into our own complacencies. Be prepared for a rollercoaster: being grossed out, angry, turned on, disgusted, and - in the end, introspective. I definitely recommend this to anyone who can stomach the content.
Graphic: Cannibalism, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Slavery, Suicide, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Trafficking
branwynnemay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The bleakness of The Jungle and the unrelenting horror of human nature of Parable of the Sower, The Road and 1984… but without any of the goodness those story’s authors offer the reader to hold on to. After all, to live in this world and be good, one would go insane- just as to read this book and be good, the reader must disassociate and consistently hold counsel with the questions this story begs. How deep is our collective cognitive dissonance that we can eat meat? Why don’t we care more about how our food is raised and slaughtered? What is our relationship to each other, ourselves and nature? If sociopaths have no empathy, what are we, and who do we want to be?
This story was too dark for me, too painful and despairing. It’s honestly the most horrific book I have ever read and I felt traumatized when it was over. The only way I should have read it was in small doses with a large book club who met often to have long discussions and support one another.
But I didn’t. And I’m sorry.
Graphic: Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Excrement, Fatphobia, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Gore, Infertility, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Dysphoria, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence
Graphic, gore, traumatizing, horrific, despairingoliviareese's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Confinement, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Vomit, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Gore, Kidnapping, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Trafficking
Moderate: Drug abuse, Car accident, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Fatphobia
hermamora's review
- 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
I was disappointed.
The writing itself is somewhat clunky, and the author doesn’t refer to the main character, Marcus, unless another character is referring to him. Especially in the beginning of the book, this was rather confusing, and made it hard to discern who was doing and saying what. I understand that the book is translated from Spanish, so I’m guessing it flowed much more smoothly in its original language.
A big issue with the book is the characters. There isn’t much time given to fleshing out any characters besides Marcos, who himself has issues with his character. At times he seems like he sympathizes with the “head”, but at other points its clear he sees them as no more than animals. In fact, there are points where it seems like he has more sympathy for his dogs who died years ago than the very alive humans he’s in charge of slaughtering. The book does not spend enough time on Marcos’s moral dilemma. We see him already broken, his distaste bottled up and discarded. This isn’t necessarily an issue, seeing how the slaughterhouse industry conditions its workers would be interesting. But Marcos doesn’t seem like he’s been “conditioned” or simply “gotten used to it”. He is clearly bothered at least somewhat by what he does, but he makes absolutely no protest besides a mildly annoyed inner monologue.
Marcos reads more like a sociopath, and less like a grieving, broken man. Especially later in the book, when he receives a female “specimen”. He spends days paying her the absolute bare minimum of attention, treating her worse than a dog. That all changes when he decides to sleep with her. Yes, he decides to sleep with the woman who has the mental capacity of a toddler and is unable to verbally consent due to her vocal cords being *literally removed*. The book pays absolutely NO attention to the fact that this is at its core, rape. She is unable to consent, both mentally and physically. He could murder her at any point, perfectly legally. The only moral question brought up about this consummation is that he’s a hypocrite because he used to arrest people for doing the same thing early in his career. I think there’s a lot more wrong with sleeping with something you consider cattle than just hypocrisy.
Now’s a good time to bring up the world building, because there were quite a few issues with it too. We’re expected to believe both that a) most people believe the virus is a hoax, and b) the majority of people still go along with it. If most people think it’s a hoax, why would the entire world just agree to following the new world order. It’s brought up people who were alive during the transition didn’t take well to it, yeah no shit. So what changed? What made the entire world suddenly tolerant of systemic cannibalism, murder, and the elimination of all wildlife? Sure, there was propaganda, and the threat of being the next thing on the menue should you dissent, but I don’t believe it’s realistic it even got to that point. Especially not on a global scale. This isn’t one country, or a few, it’s implied to be the whole world. I will say though, the conditions of the factory are fairly well written. Similar enough to modern industrial farming, while still being suitable for human farming.
My biggest issue with the book though, was the ending. I’m not saying it wasn’t a good ending, in fact it made perfect sense to the plot. However, not enough time was spent on it. In the course of a few pages the entire book is wrapped up. I wish at least a semi long chapter had been dedicated to the birth, and what happened after. It is deeply tragic that the woman he impregnated, basically domesticated, was made to endure a brutal childbirth then be murdered without a second thought. It works with the book’s theme, sure, but it was so utterly fast paced it had no pay off. It was somewhat foreshadowed throughout the book, with how he refers to the baby inside Jasmine (the “head” he was gifted) as his son, and pays very little attention to Jasmine in his statements. But still, it just didn’t work for me because of how fast paced it was. Also, I’m not really sure what the last line is supposed to mean?
“She had the human look of a domesticated animal.” And that means she needs to be slaughtered now because…? I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be getting at. Of course she appears domesticated, he spent months training her to function how he wanted her to. I just have no idea what this is supposed to mean.
Over all, it had many issues. If you’re looking for something gross to read, this is your book! It was also very short, I read it in one sitting.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Cannibalism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Trafficking
Moderate: Classism, Fatphobia, and Grief
julesloyola's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Rape, and Fatphobia