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laboromi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Death, Cannibalism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Abortion, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Vomit
specificwonderland's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I read some reviews of this book before I quit, wondering if it would turn out to be fruitful or have some kind of 'good' ending. What I read was not encouraging. To paraphrase, "this is a less good Animal Farm". Yeah, I don't need to debase myself like this. It's ok that I'm soft. It's ok that I get disgusted and traumatized reading about a guy fucking a girl while he guides a colonoscopy camera up (really really up) her anal canal far into her intestines while they both listlessly watch the camera footage. It's ok that I don't want to read about 6 guys punching holes in the same cow while it's alive, so they can fuck the cow holes and then murder the cow so it tenses around their dicks before they finally stop its suffering. It's ok I don't want to hear about a sadistic mother feeding her adult son rotten sheep intestines, then him making her eat his literal shit, on a plate, over and over again. And the poor helpless dog.
Wherever this book is going, it's ok that I don't want to go.
From what I did read, I felt it was one dimensional, the detached third person narration of an emotionally delayed (however rightfully so) young man. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. I paid for it , and don't even want to leave it in a FLL without a content warning on it. I feel like Tender is the Flesh tackles these ideas in less harsh ways while still being visceral.
Some questions I have at this juncture. The biggest question I have is, was the writer in on this? Did the writer do an amazing job at a character study of a depraved man or is the only way a writer could harness this much depravity is if he himself were that depraved man, saying whatever thoughts he thinks. If it's the former, there's some value in this level of repulsion. If it's the latter, I hope to never cross his path in a dark alley.
I do think the animal cruelty question opens an ethical line of questioning. Ok we can all agree THIS is too much, this is beyond the boundaries of what a cow should have to go through. How do we feel (singularly, as a society, or from the author's Australia versus my America) about factory farms? Most of us eat meat, isn't that cruel? Most of us distance ourselves as much as we can from our living breathing food. This book makes the reader look.
Humans are disgusting, even if we're not unfeeling toxic monsters. We do horrible things to animals. And guess what, we do them to each other. Men rape women. People bring guns to schools, malls, concerts, movies. America is a hella racist place to be for a person of color. England colonized a lot of the world. We treat each other horribly. Is this book beyond that? (Resounding yes for me.)
And my final question is, if it's not for me, who is this book for? I think it's for someone who wants to be pushed to their limits. I love a sad book that destroys me. If there's an audience who craves that feeling of being destroyed and levelled by a disgusting work, this is the book for that audience.
Graphic: Excrement, Vomit, Violence, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Torture, Death, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Sexual assault, and Emotional abuse
pantrat's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Murder, Physical abuse, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexism, Vomit, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Medical content, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, and Rape
dreamyari's review
- 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
0.5
i’m not even kidding, this and dead inside have the exact same problem of being so formulaic where every chapter is the repeat of the previous one with like. a sentence of a difference. extreme horror is great but only when done with an iota of something that isn’t just ~oooo disgusting description that will make the reader gag~. it sure will!! but what’s the point if that’s all there is? WHY did so many influencers recommend this lmao
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, Racial slurs, Sexism, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Mental illness, Child death, Rape, Islamophobia, Death, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Animal death, and Excrement
katenorman17's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Excrement, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Vomit, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
dumaurier's review against another edition
0.5
Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Excrement, and Gore
vilequeenofodas's review
Graphic: Excrement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Incest, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Murder
earsore's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Pregnancy, Torture, Toxic friendship, Blood, Gore, Mental illness, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Racial slurs
tigrah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
fancyskeletons's review against another edition
4.0
How does one even rate something like this? I can't rate it in a scale of how much I enjoyed it because, well. I can't say I had a good time. I had A time, for sure. I had to put down my kindle from time to time because I was gaging, do with that what you will.
This book is disgusting, vile, ugly and shocking. That's what it set out to do, and it was sucessful in its endeavour to disturb, and that's the basis of my rating. Consider me disturbed.
At its core, Steven is a deeply disfunctional individual in the middle of a deeply disfunctional environment. The world of Cows is one of extremes. Nothing is left in mild terms.
And it'll haunt me for a very long time.
Whoever recommended this one in the Reddit post about disturbing books, you were right and also fuck you.
TW: murder; coprophagia; coprophilia; blood; bestiality; rape; grossness in general; animal cruelty; animal death; very explicit sex scenes; gore; violence; torture; abortion (by extreme measures); toxic relationships; domestic abuse.
Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Vomit, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Murder, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Cannibalism