Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Tender is the Flesh

I can't say that this will have a lasting impact on me but it was fine.

I was left with many questions like what makes a human "food grade" as opposed to the consumer, I don't think someone without a first and last name is satisfying enough. How were people convinced into cannibalism, people are not that susceptible to propaganda and they are not passive agents. Why were there limited protests to this? Why weren't alternative meat products made? Perhaps this would deflect from the message, however, I did not find it fully compelling. This could've had such a powerful message concerning race and gender issues, but I'm not sure the animal cruelty theme shone through as much as it should've. There was a spark of a conversation on government power and conspiracies which could've been impactful commentary had it been explored past a conversation between teenagers.

I personally don't believe Marcos' reasoning for doing the work he did was justified and the ending was extremely rushed and made no sense. Unfortunately, a disappointing read.

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biobeetle's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.25

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kaleidoscopekai's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense 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

4.5

truly horrific. It reminds me of the dystopians I would read in class in highschool. i even feel like i could’ve written an essay for this if i was in school still haha.
i love that every character was deeply unlikable and hypocritical, except of course the ones that were slaves/food/etc.
everything tied together for me in a way that i thought was deeply satisfying, if not also very heartbreaking. I’m personally fine with a book that takes a bit more depressing take towards human nature every now again, although i’m going to need to read something very sweet next to get my chest to stop feeling so heavy. i wished they addressed the scientific issues with cannibalism as well like Kuru, there’s a paragraph that somewhat mentions it but i would have loved to see more problems coming from the cannibalism himself.

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official24c's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.75

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thescenery's review against another edition

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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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