Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

13 reviews

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

reillym's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Demented and beautiful. I had chills at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Rape, Emotional abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Dementia, and Excrement

kinskinn's review

challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, Rape, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Torture

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Abortion, and Vomit

sakisreads's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.0

This is definitely not my usual type of story, but let me give you a little context as to why I ended up reading it!

I was at a restaurant in London with my friend; we’re both big foodies so we wanted to try out a tasting menu at a hip hotel. A man was sat across from us, enjoying the same tasting menu and a bottle of wine by himself, and reading this book. As an avid reader (and as a big introvert who loved that he could come and enjoy a tasting menu and wine alone!), I had to know what he was reading. So I asked and he held this up, only giving me a tiny peek on what the book was going to delve into! 😳

If anyone knows of this man, please tell him that I want to discuss this book with him and that I want more recommendations ✨

Anyway, I’m giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. It’s evidently VERY creepy and is intended to horrify/shock, but I still felt like I gasped a lot. There were also elements of humour, which was quite refreshing for a book about legalised cannibalism 😂

When he impregnated ‘Jasmine’, I was aghast but also couldn’t stop reading! 😫

There is commentary on government VS the people, grief and race. I will put the content warnings down below.

Thank you so much ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Pregnancy, Blood, and Body horror

reginacattus's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I think this book might be the most tense and physically uncomfortable read I've ever encountered, and incredibly thought-provoking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Infertility, Cannibalism, Death, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Confinement, Blood, Sexual assault, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Classism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcohol, Excrement, Cursing, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

readwithsian's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Child death, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Death of parent, Rape, Violence, Miscarriage, Animal death, War, Torture, Colonisation, Body horror, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Gore, Death, Classism, Alcohol, Trafficking, Medical content, Grief, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Mental illness, Suicide, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, and Adult/minor relationship

forestfeyrie'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? It's complicated

4.0

screaming!!!!!!!! if you like poppy z brite you will love this. deviant, squeamish and full of cannibalistic terror 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Fatphobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, and Emotional abuse

bugbites's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Gore, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Infertility, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, and Car accident

saadeeyah's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.0

So I was told this book was a true dystopian novel. Honestly it had a lot of potential. The characters had potential, the main idea of the society had potential, but in the end it felt like the author had a bunch of separate ideas for a book and squished them together. Like the human hunting reserve where they hunted a celebrity who was in debt? That just sounded like the main plot of a desperate book. I was also disappointed in the characters, when I started the book I assumed I would get to know Marcos and why he does things and how he does things, but I still have no clue how he thinks and why he acts. All I got was that he’s vegetarian, he likes beer, he misses his wife, he misses his dead baby and he’s a creep. All throughout the book, he would explain how everyone else was sick but then literally does the exact same thing as everyone else. I guess that could be interpreted as the meaning of the book, but it’s a bit of a cop-out. It also felt very gory for little to no reason. It honestly made me think that the author just wanted to write something with every trigger warning possible and the best way to do it was to choose humans. I would not be surprised if the author chose humans because the book wouldn’t have been well received if they had gone into as much detail on livestock farming and slaughtering. It made me think of those kinds of vegans. The ending was basically ten pages and didn’t make sense when it came to the characters’ arcs. Kinda disappointed as I was told the ending was what truly made the book (aka the book is boring but the end is shocking). Overall meh writing and underdeveloped plot and characters.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Gore, Vomit, Car accident, Child death, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Infertility, Addiction, Sexual assault, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Torture, Medical content, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

kyrstin_p1989's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

Disturbing doesn’t even begin to touch the surface. I definitely didn’t anticipate the ending. I thought the protagonist had changed but ultimately this book proves that people will do heinous things to get what they want. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Violence, Pregnancy, Medical content, Classism, Death, Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual assault, Murder, Infidelity, Infertility, Child death, Gore, Slavery, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Medical trauma