Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

235 reviews

kelisabeth's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Grief, Abortion, Animal death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Gore, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Dementia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Child abuse, Confinement, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Physical abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, and Rape

ashley_bee_'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Infidelity, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Animal cruelty, Rape, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual violence

ahhmii's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Pregnancy, Rape, Infidelity, Gore, Suicide, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Death, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault

mothmania's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Child death, Pregnancy, Dementia, Gore, Pedophilia, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Murder, Body horror, Cannibalism, Slavery, Infertility, Infidelity, and Rape

oliver_thorne's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Trafficking, Rape, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Slavery, Infidelity, Cannibalism, and Torture

Moderate: Infertility and Sexual violence

Minor: Blood

nightmarebees's review

challenging dark 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? Yes

3.25

the best parts of this were the language and the writing style. i had multiple times where i said “okay i’m gonna read 20 pages today” and ended up exceeding that goal by multiple chapters because i was really drawn in. that said, my personal main reading doorways are characters and plot, and this was kind of lacking in both for me. 

i’m largely a genre reader, so i kept wanting this to lean harder into horror or dystopian themes than it actually did. there’s some question on certain aspects of the world that is built (how did it happen so quickly? is the virus even real?) that i felt could’ve been explored more, and this is mostly bc i’m more interested in the day-to-day of this alternate world than i am in marcos as a character. i don’t think characters should have to be completely likable and unproblematic in order to tell a story, but i just didn’t really care what happened to this dude. 

i’m also unimpressed with the way women are characterized in this story. cecilia is blamed for mourning the loss of her child and treated as though she’s the problem in their marriage. spanel, as far as i can tell, assaulted marcos as a minor and then serves as an object for him to fuck to get over some hurdle in his grief about his son. and jasmine? i get that she wasn’t socialized, and we know that humans are animals, but it just rubs me the wrong way that she is this pathway to ‘healing’ for marcos when she is literally the silent and submissive fantasy taken to the extreme. he doesn’t start seeing her “as a human being” (i know authors aren’t in charge of the back cover summaries for their books), he sees her as a fuckable incubator.

i get that this wasn’t supposed to be an uplifting story. i get that the point was to illustrate the horrors that humankind can become desensitized to. but i just think it fell short in terms of making me care about what any of the characters did or how they reacted. part of this is my own preferences, and i’m realizing i might just not be into literary fiction or stories about straight men right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, and Blood

Moderate: Cannibalism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent

smashingreads's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.0

Initial: ooof that ending. I love that the author wasn’t afraid to end it this way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Infertility, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

vonrxyes's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Child death, Rape, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Grief, Blood, Classism, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, and Infertility

this book will make you reevaluate your entire life

misszoehatter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Animal death, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Death, Pregnancy, and Body horror

Moderate: Infertility, Rape, Slavery, Infidelity, Grief, Car accident, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Child death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Alcohol, Torture, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

mel_jade's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Well I can honestly say I have never read anything like what I just did. I'd heard about this book many a times and finally dove into it. What a crazy, disturbing, sometimes horrifying and brutal take on a future when the only meat source is humans.
There were moments when my heart broke for the 'head' as they were called and the way he has written this story sends a shiver down your spine for the fact alone at how realistic it is. He wrote it in such a way that this could really be what would happen in a situation and future like that. It shows how cruel, evil and sadistic human beings really are and what monsters they are capable of adapting and turning into.
This is a novel I will never forget and it will definitely stay with me for a long time.
If you love a good horror, with a Dystopian theme and have a good stomach for disturbing things then look no further, this book is for you!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Sexual assault, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Blood, Child death, Gore, Animal cruelty, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Infidelity, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, and Slavery