Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

815 reviews

measbu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Murder, Child death, Blood, Infertility, Grief, Excrement, Dementia, Death of parent, Body horror, Slavery, Gore, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Animal death, Violence, Death, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

bethpaws's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

In this deeply disturbing dystopian novel, a virus has resulted in all animals being slaughtered resulting in cannibalism being legal and accepted. Marcos works in a processing plant, and we follow his story with a focus on his actions after receiving a female specimen as a gift. The book contains graphic descriptions of slaughter.
 This book was an addictive read, and genuinely made me think and reflect on many issues of society. 
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Trafficking, Rape, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

jessiejonesbentley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cannibalism, Infertility, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Torture, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

mcrespo's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

cause you're just a man .... it's just what you do (@ Marcos). no but in all seriousness, this novel offers some apt commentary on capitalism, and i think it perfectly depicts how pressures from societal expectations and grief can push anyone to abandon their morality. i do wish that the theme of feminism, which seemed to be touched on with Dr. Valka, was more developed, and i think that Bazterrica had a few missed opportunities to offer some meaningful commentary on the way forces like capitalism, racism, misogyny all come together to play a role in society's demise, but if you're in the market for a dystopian fiction that critiques capitalism, this is a great novel with a strong conclusion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Cannibalism, Animal death, and Gore

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Death of parent

auburn's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Gore, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cannibalism, Rape, Slavery, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Death of parent, Death, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Mental illness

mikeyz's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Abortion, Alcohol, Suicide, Trafficking, Gore, Excrement, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Rape, Racism, Cannibalism, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Infertility, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

tarantulagirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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: Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Gore, Death, Sexual assault, Murder, and Cannibalism

enyltiak's review against another edition

challenging 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

1.0

This book made me so furious that I hate finished it rather than simply DNF. The violence against women, use of the born-sexy-yesterday trope, the writing so clinical and detached which I get but I felt really didn't service a story that seems to want to have a strong emotional core—never mind the fact that the main character is almost never mentioned by name in the narration, in a story of mostly male characters, which makes figuring out who said or did what incredibly confusing and irritating. There's an interesting social commentary under all this, but by the end of Part One I didn't care, and in Part Two I was just disgusted by the main character, and not even in an interesting way you would expect from a horror novel. And this is personal to my boundaries but the animal cruelty made me sick. Overall just not a good time with this one, actually put me into a slump, and just depressed the hell out of me—I don't feel like I even got anything from that feeling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Gore, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Classism, Death, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Grief, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Child death, Trafficking, and Medical content

j_emerson18's review against another edition

dark sad 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? Yes

3.5

Traumatizing. Twisted. Dark. Gruesome. Recommend by one of my best friends. She's gonna need to pay for my therapy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Grief, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Child death, Sexual violence, Animal death, Suicide, Sexual content, Rape, Vomit, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Murder, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Car accident

cozeebee's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

 What a hard read to get get through. The factor that kept me going was the MC (IN THE BEGINNING). I felt so much empathy for his situation. Near the halfway point, my empathy began to waver. Who once seemed good, I could suddenly see a darkness in him, not the darkness of sadness but the darkness of malice. By the end, he was just a horrible monster. I heard multiple times that the last line of the book is shocking but I wasn't expecting that. 

The book had so many oddly ironic moments. I wouldn't say it was comedic in any way, but because the irony caught me off guard I often let out a laugh of disbelief. Particulary how they celebrate a new born. 

Overall, I loved the writing. If you could stomach the harsh topics of this read, I would definitely recommend it to someone who wants to read a gory psychological horror. Not much plot, just world building and character development(?).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Gore, Rape, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, and Death