Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

165 reviews

morgue666's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• 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? Yes

3.75

one of the most disgusting books i ever read. this universe is so weird because there’s just vegans watching the rest of the world eat people

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Child death, Death, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Sexual violence, Violence, Slavery, Rape, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Excrement, Suicide, Torture, and Self harm

akaspiderlily's review

dark slow-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

To be frank, it’s a terrible read. It is highly disturbing, while offering no real substance outside of its graphic detailed description of a cannibalistic future society. There is a fetishization at play almost, and the main character is a violent, raping, sociopath, whose only “human” characteristic lies in the fact that he does not enjoy eating human meat like “normal” with everyone else. Additionally, I found the truly horrific parts of it entirely too pathetically dismissive of the history this society would have had, as if caging humans, breeding them, hunting them, experimenting on them, and eating them, was not something practiced by white conquistadors and slavers on African and indigenous people. There is a literal mention of one of the villains in the story having a picture of a white colonizer with human heads in Africa as a point of reverence, yet only this present-day dystopia is horrific? Terrible. 0 stars. This is why I stay away from white authors.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Abortion, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Torture, Violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, and Trafficking

paigehf's review

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Gore, Death, Sexual content, Cursing, Child death, Suicide, Death of parent, and Body horror

shewhoturnsallpages7834's review

challenging dark 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

3.0

Marcos has a hyper-fixation on words. In world that literally rips the vocal cords of their facility breed "special meat" in order to circumvent the sounds of another human beings suffering, he continues to crave connection. His inner world is bleak yet descriptive when it comes to his judgments of others, and justifications of himself. 

 I was not mentally prepared for the gory details of the "processing plant" and I spend the first couple of pages with a permanent scowl on my face. Unsure of the virus is real or not, or a sinister conspiracy to allow humanity to capitalize on its lurking darkness, I am still struggling to wrap my mind around the decisions of the main character. Marcos appears to grapple with his almost nihilistic  decision to embrace cannibalism as part of his livelihood until a breakdown in his judgement leads to his ultimate prize. 

He oscalites between looking down on his peers in the "meat" industry and kind-of envying their easy adjustment to stripping other humans down to their most basic parts literally, for entertainment, religion, and entertainment.  Like many others in this story, Marcos acknowledges the cognitive dissonance of it all and he suffers in silence. His desire to have a family ultimately acts as the catalyst for his corruption and final act of immolation. There are not enough words to adequately described the grotesqueness of it all. Meat. Head. Product. Disgusting. This medium paced dystopian novel had a few "food of thought" moments but in the end, I would not revisit it in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Murder, Body horror, Death of parent, Rape, Trafficking, Death, Grief, Suicide, Animal death, Infertility, Abandonment, Medical content, 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

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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

jake_windish's review

challenging dark sad fast-paced

4.5

A story unlike any other. A brutally simple and simply brutal tale. I wasn’t sure in the first half if it was doing anything for me, but it all comes around by the end—and it’s an end that’ll stay with me for some time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gore, Death, Body horror, Trafficking, Cannibalism, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual violence, Child death, Suicide, Sexual content, Rape, and Self harm

xeno_reads's review

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

A thought provoking look into a mirror of what humanity can be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Trafficking, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Excrement, Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Pregnancy, Vomit, Ableism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Animal death, Abandonment, Death, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Blood, Infertility, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child death, Body horror, Torture, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Slavery, Classism, and Sexual harassment

bre_terry's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Cannibalism

Minor: Suicide

oriana095's review

challenging dark tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual violence, Death of parent, Child death, Pregnancy, and Rape

Minor: Suicide, Vomit, and Trafficking

ainslieruhl's review against another edition

every word of this book made me cringe and feel gross. blahhhh. knew i wouldn’t like it but was looking for something short so figured i would give it a try. really it’s my own fault, and maybe this book is for other people, but cannot express how much it is not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Self harm, Miscarriage, Body horror, Physical abuse, Murder, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape, Terminal illness, Gore, Death, Pregnancy, and Abortion