Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

66 reviews

booksbeyondthebinary's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Torture, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Homophobia

kataleen1989's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism and Classism

Minor: Child death and Homophobia

bearyboo's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

0.5

I understand this book is meant to be challenging and meaningful which, don't get me wrong, it is, but it was. Um. I hated it. I went into it expected something similar to The Stranger, since the narrative styles were similar. That wasn't the case, obviously. This book was,,, I don't want to be over-critical, but it was vile. It actually hurt to read at many points, and I could feel every fiber of my being just. Scream. I wanted to puke during the

dinner scene with Urlet, and the puppy-murdering scene,

and all around it wasn't a pleasant experience. Not that I was expecting something fluffy and cute, but. As much as I can tolerate and as much as I was expecting, this was just too much. Love the concept, beautifully executed. I hated it, and nothing redeemed it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Child death, Rape, and Cannibalism

Minor: Homophobia and Gore

katharina90's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

Brutal commentary on supremacist delusions and how we justify and normalize violent, socially constructed hierarchies so we can oppress, exploit and extract.

The message is most obvious in regards to human supremacy and capitalism but the book alludes to and is easily applied to other systems of oppression.

I enjoyed the matter-of-fact, detached writing style and the almost Orwellian language.

A fascinating, deeply disturbing book with lots to unpack.

"After all, since the world began, we’ve been eating each other. If not symbolically, then we’ve been literally gorging on each other. The Transition has enabled us to be less hypocritical."

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Violence, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Classism, Rape, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Child death, and Racism

Minor: Dementia, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Slavery, and Suicide

Other: ecofascism, trophy hunting, graphic descriptions of animal agriculture, slaughterhouse operations and animal testing/experimentation

wymzie's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Cannibalism, and Torture

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Racism and Homophobia

dkguida's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

a twisted take on how close society could be to total savagery. it is interesting to see the parallels of today's world with the meat industry in this book. with the right circumstances do you think civilization that values individualism, strength, status, and wealth could devolve into cannibalism? 

... wished the ending was better 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Torture, Classism, Cursing, Cannibalism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Slavery, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Homophobia, Murder, and Violence

cassandrareadsbooks's review

dark sad fast-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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Child death, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Suicide, Body horror, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Death, and Excrement

lyzasage's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Trafficking, Torture, Genocide, Child death, Blood, Rape, Body horror, Death, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Confinement, Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Dementia, Medical content, Animal death, Grief, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Car accident, Cursing, Homophobia, Death of parent, Addiction, Infidelity, Classism, Abortion, Child abuse, Antisemitism, Excrement, Infertility, and Alcoholism

clawsure's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

4.5

What a ride. Even through the horrors of this universe, I couldn’t put the book down. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal death, Murder, Cannibalism, Death, Infertility, Violence, Blood, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Trafficking, Pedophilia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Child death, and Confinement

Minor: Homophobia and Trafficking

readerrose676's review

dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book was so believably nasty. And, the reason why I didn't say "unbelievably" is because the actions that took place in this book are not as far away from reality as people may think. While yes, the descent into cannibalism is a very drastic change, the implications of the book are still unable to ignore.

How Marcos treated the female- especially at the end, the final understanding of exactly who Marcos was and how his limited perspective altered our own interpretations of the book, the subtle connotation of the government lying about the virus to begin with as an answer to overpopulation and crime.

All of these ideas, fleshed out in this short 200 page book, were so interesting to consume. What I find the most interesting however, is the slow and steady acceptance of this world. In the beginning, I was absolutely disgusted by the actions taken place and the descriptions, and I had to put this book down many times. But after reading some reviews online, I realize that I was not the only person who had subconsciously accepted that this world was what it was. Yes, it was still absolutely disgusting to read. Yes, the issues were still present and I was still aware of it. But I was no longer actively gagging while I read. And I think that this was a very intentional addition to the book to truly grasp the hypocrisy and how at the end of the day, humans are animals to. That descent can't be allowed to happen.

Overall, I thought this was a very interesting read. It wasn't flawless, by any means, but I couldn't put it down even when I desperately wanted to.

(I feel like a scholar rn sorry)

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Rape, Child death, Racism, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia