Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

74 reviews

gramesjay's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Dementia, Excrement, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Drug use, Murder, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death, Infertility, Vomit, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

kp_reads_in_the_dark's review

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? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Slavery and Car accident

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

glitterdeww's review

challenging dark medium-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? It's complicated

2.5

To be fair to this book, it is hard to give it an overall rating. From a critical lense, I feel that it was broadly mid, with a few aspects to which I can lend praise.

From a personal lense, I disliked it immensely. 

Anyone going into this book needs to understand that this will be a spectacle. That is the point. Spectacles can be enthralling, and that is the one things I believe this book does well. It is wholly compelling, from start to finish. But I would not anticipate plot, characters, nor world building to be well developed or make rational sense. As I read, the plot points answered the question, "how can I be shocking and terrible next?" Some of the most difficult passages lent nothing of value to the (story?), and as I worked through the disgust I was meant to feel, I found little else. The spectacle itself pulled me through this book and left only frustration. 

The overarching metaphor of Tender is the Flesh is not just the world of factory farming, but how humans view and treat different sorts of life, including each other. The excess of the story makes this extremely heavy handed, taking what the readers gets from the first 20% of the book and beating them over the head with it until the last page. 

People are cruel. They justify atrocities in their daily life over and over. They blind themselves willingly through selfishness. Digging into these aspects of humanity is useful, but I think where I was left most irritated was that there was nothing to pit these negatives against. And that does not make a well-rounded story. At the end of the day, that's why I disliked it. If this was written as a short story, a creative essay digging into just this topic, I would probably view it differently. But there was something lacking here that cheapened the overall product. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Rape, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Car accident, Excrement, Infertility, and Infidelity

kellymckn's review

dark reflective fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

A quick page-turning read. Many characters, settings, and events introduced simply for shock value and to explore the ways cannibalism could lead, with no deeper exploration into the meaning - and dropped after the introduction of characters, etc. 
However, a deeper story underneath with a good arc. Overall, a good read with an unexpected end. Would recommend to anyone not easily turned off by the subject matter. 

Main character is super unreliable. A narcissist who has what seems to be a fake martyr complex. He makes it seem as though he dreads killing humans and only does it for his father, when in reality he gleefully slaughters a woman he has created a bond with. Fuck that guy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, and Trafficking

Moderate: Dementia, Car accident, and Death of parent

izypup's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Child death, Infidelity, Murder, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Gore, Blood, Death, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Car accident

Minor: Sexism, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Rape, Medical content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Dementia, and Excrement

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

“Abuse of power comes as no surprise.” - Jenny Holzer

Pacing is too slow at times and too fast at others. I didn’t find the ending shocking in the way some other reviewers did. I think this had some interesting things to say, but didn’t quite push far enough when it comes to exploring the government, capitalism, etc. Plenty of gore if that is your thing. Some parts are very beautifully written. The examination of grief is in my opinion much more effective than any sociopolitical argument being made. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Death, Animal death, Cannibalism, Blood, Gore, Child death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Trafficking, Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Grief, Cursing, Confinement, Rape, Vomit, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Torture, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Car accident, and Alcohol

heybethrenee's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is like a cross between Fahrenheit 451 and Animal Farm. It is so eloquently written and translated. It is blunt but also subtle in its themes. The only thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars is the ending. I didn’t dislike it by any means, I suppose I just wish I understood it more. It happened very quickly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Death, Animal death, Mental illness, Murder, Trafficking, Slavery, Pregnancy, Gore, Confinement, Excrement, Blood, Violence, Cannibalism, Torture, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Car accident, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Injury/Injury detail

sr_marshrat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Predictable, but still poignant, commentary on Homo sapiens general disregard and disrespect for other living beings. A little more subtle or a little bit more over-the-top, and this could have been a 5 star read. As is, it's like noticing something atrocious and hurrying past, eyeing it sidelong. Not facing it head on or being truly forced to acknowledge and confront.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Pregnancy, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child death, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

wends_nblw's review

dark medium-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

I'm a bit 'eh' on this one. This book was a tad bit too dull for me. One of my special interests is cannibalism, so reading about the consumption of humans wasn't particularly disturbing to me. As well, the writing style was so bland. I understand that it fits the main character, that is his voice, but lord did I find him as a character to be bland too. Not a single thing in this book surprised me in the least, I even predicted the end. 

However, I will say. The end was my favorite part; the only good part, in my opinion. This isn't a bad book either. It just wasn't really for me, which is a shame because cannibalism is my favorite trope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Confinement and Pedophilia

Minor: Excrement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexism, Dementia, Classism, Racism, Homophobia, and Car accident

annacmetz's review

dark emotional sad 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

1.25

Waste of time, imo. Interesting concept but wasn’t executed well. ending was abrupt. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Infidelity, and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Infertility, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, and Car accident