Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

8 reviews

sarahshock's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Amazing book! Highly recommend. The ending is insane!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Child abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Excrement, Genocide, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Dysphoria, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Torture, and Violence

annachristine50'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

Don’t read. I hated the way I felt reading this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Violence, Slavery, Torture, Physical abuse, Confinement, Child death, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Body horror, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Blood, and Animal death

Minor: Blood

I hate myself for reading this.

marielkitty's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Torture, Dysphoria, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Rape, Miscarriage, Blood, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Trafficking, and Animal death

xoxojaydub's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Gore, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Dysphoria, Blood, Cannibalism, and Death

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

holdenwunders_'s review

3.0

This may be the hardest book to rate so I went with a solid three because I’m truly not sure if it deserves a five or a one. Perhaps sitting on it longer will make me more decisive but I have a feeling that this is one of those books that sits with you and sinks into your mind and stays there forever. I typically have a high tolerance for gruesome things and I read the first half in one sitting, although it was disturbing, I didn’t feel grossed out or even fucked in the head. Don’t get me wrong this book starts off brutal but it’s all there in the title and in the synopsis so I knew what I was getting into. I took a long break and came back to my second sitting and finished it and man, if I weren’t writing about it right now I’d say I was speechless. We have a main character tethering us in this fucked up world where we eat humans and treat them like we do the meat on our plates today. Our protagonist keeps us grounded albeit his job is pretty fucked, we know there are good people still out there. This is the kind of book that needs some sort of empathy tying us to the book otherwise it would just be a gore fest for the sake of it and what’s the point then?  This book was masterful to say the least. Horrifying to say the obvious. And I’m not sure how I feel except it was done expertly. I’m disturbed. Horrified. Bamboozled. And I know some of these images will stay with me for life.  Grab some Soylent Green and get to reading folks.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Classism, Dysphoria, Medical content, and Rape

branwynnemay's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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

2.0

Word to the wise: if you’re an empathetic person, do not just pick this one up.

The bleakness of The Jungle and the unrelenting horror of human nature of Parable of the Sower, The Road and 1984… but without any of the goodness those story’s authors offer the reader to hold on to. After all, to live in this world and be good, one would go insane- just as to read this book and be good, the reader must disassociate and consistently hold counsel with the questions this story begs. How deep is our collective cognitive dissonance that we can eat meat? Why don’t we care more about how our food is raised and slaughtered? What is our relationship to each other, ourselves and nature? If sociopaths have no empathy, what are we, and who do we want to be? 

This story was too dark for me, too painful and despairing. It’s honestly the most horrific book I have ever read and I felt traumatized when it was over. The only way I should have read it was in small doses with a large book club who met often to have long discussions and support one another. 

But I didn’t. And I’m sorry.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Excrement, Fatphobia, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Gore, Infertility, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Dysphoria, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

Graphic, gore, traumatizing, horrific, despairing

gracekirby51's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Dementia, Dysphoria, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, and Death

komurph's review

challenging dark reflective medium-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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Medical trauma, Dysphoria, Blood, Violence, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Gore, Torture, Pregnancy, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Death, Slavery, Death of parent, Classism, Child death, and Cannibalism

Minor: Alcohol

This is a very graphic book similar to The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, but with humans instead of animals. I don’t think it was too graphic or disturbing but others should heed the content warnings if they are easily triggered.