Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

115 reviews

aubristar's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this book took me for a whirlwind of emotions and made me contemplate my food choices. it was gross and very graphic and detailed but i couldn’t put it down. 100000000% recommend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, Infertility, Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Animal cruelty, and Alcohol

dragonterriers's review

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

this book is absolutely unrelenting until the last word, and not for the faint of heart nor the weak of stomach. the commentary is thought-provoking (though a little tired, to me), and the carnage is very illustrative and… brutal, if not a little gratuitous at times, but i suppose that’s the point. i am a long-time horror film fan that’s getting back into reading, and have been struggling to find a horror book that gives me the same ick as some of the movies i’ve seen - and boy howdy, i’ve found it. proceed with caution and mind the CW/TWs, but if you’re down to explore the philosophical doom spectrum of moral greys to absolute depravity, strap in, this is for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Death, Gore, Torture, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Grief, Alcohol, Vomit, Excrement, Classism, and Misogyny

sknselena's review

dark reflective sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Body horror, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Alcohol and Alcoholism

lizzymorang's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Body horror, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Dementia, Genocide, Blood, Murder, Slavery, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit and Excrement

Minor: Alcohol

thescenery's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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? No

3.5

i expected the ending to be just like it was and the thought of it was so fun but reading was so underwhelming

the writing was a lil underwhelming too and marcos was a complicated, annoying character, but the plot was fun and very.. gross. i enjoyed it a lot!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Pregnancy, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Body horror, Child death, Sexual violence, Sexism, Cannibalism, Rape, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Child death

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

horchata's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

This was such an intense read, I’m not sure I can give it a star rating. It’s the best of horror and an examination/condemnation of the way capitalistic human structures pervert humanity. I didn’t once think of it as an allegory while reading. The ending kicked me in the chest. If you read the summary and you’re intrigued, go for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Confinement, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Child death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Body horror, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Infertility, Grief, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Alcohol, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, and Terminal illness

Minor: Torture, Suicide, and Trafficking

persiefey's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Blood, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Confinement, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Abortion, Addiction, Body horror, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Infidelity, Medical content, Miscarriage, Slavery, Torture, and Vomit

crgrace's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Pretty sure I first became curious about this book after seeing it on a booktocker’s “wtf did I just read?,”which is exactly how I felt upon finishing it. 
I did not “enjoy” it per sé, but the thought provoking nature and graphic audacity of this novel pushed it to almost 4 stars for me. 
The author fed just enough detail to move the plot along and keep the reader mildly curious while eliciting an emotional pit of horror, disgust, and wistfulness. 
I wouldn’t recommend this to many people but I’m not upset I read it. Check the trigger warnings if you have literally any triggers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Child death, Murder, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Torture, Dementia, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, Blood, Self harm, Grief, Confinement, Gore, and Sexual content

Minor: Infertility, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

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