Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

173 reviews

skeletontears's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Sexual content, Torture, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

jemmers's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

This book was cruel and lean. Starts off at a moderate pace and builds to a fast, brutal conclusion. It’ll sit with you. The world and characters are horrible and I couldn’t look away.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Rape, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, Animal death, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical content, Blood, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Body horror, Trafficking, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Child death, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

therealmsroth's review

dark 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? No

4.5

Explores the ethics of mass cannibalism, sure, but more about the ethics of eating meat at all. Equates the meat industry to slavery and not-so-subtly forces you to question your own diet habits and systems of oppression you participate in, but never question. Brings to mind the power of language to nullify and neutralize that which is gruesome and horrific by nature. Some gross moments, of course, but mostly an impressive text that made me think... What if the most horrifying circumstance and all the details necessary to make it function, were just an accepted reality?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Animal death, Infidelity, Rape, Trafficking, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Gore, Child death, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Murder, Slavery, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, and Classism

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

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

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

hikaiya's review

challenging tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

If Marcos has a million haters, then I am one of them. If Marcos has ten haters, then I am one of them. If Marcos has only one hater then that is me. If Marcos has no haters, then that means I am dead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Gore, Slavery, Cannibalism, Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death, Murder, Racism, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Confinement, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Medical content, Pregnancy, Animal death, Infidelity, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, and Death of parent

cinderpot's review

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Good book, pretty fast pace but the translation does not do it justice. Translated version was a bit hard to follow. Very dark and gruesome though which was exactly what the book entailed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Dementia, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

elinhaldira's review

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Classism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Slavery, Animal death, Miscarriage, Sexism, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Violence, Murder, Infertility, Animal cruelty, Gore, Racism, Confinement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Cannibalism, Forced institutionalization, and Death

florenceassetto's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

this book was VERY MUCH SOMETHING!!! read it as it was recommended to me a long time ago and it was lowkey very harrowing, and such a commentary on so many things in the world and of humanity 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Slavery, Rape, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Cannibalism, and Trafficking

Moderate: Death of parent and Grief