Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

78 reviews

morganpearcy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

This is my third read through and first review of Tender is the Flesh. I absolutely love this book. There are a lot of dark topics - awareness of the CW beforehand is advisable - this won’t be for everyone.

What I love so much about this book is hard to put into words. At its core, Tender is the Flesh explores how systems of oppression strip us of our humanity, normalize violence and turn human beings into another consumable, another form of capital. I could easily write an entire essay using this story as an allegory for modern Capitalism.

Augustina Bazterrica does a splendid job of building tension throughout the book, leading to a surprise ending that will make the reader’s head explode a wee bit. In total, this book will make you think. The main character is relatable. The other characters and their interactions with the main character offer insights into our own complacencies. Be prepared for a rollercoaster: being grossed out, angry, turned on, disgusted, and - in the end, introspective. I definitely recommend this to anyone who can stomach the content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Slavery, Suicide, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Trafficking

_maia3_'s review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Tender Is The Flesh is gory and stomach turning, but very little of this is used purely for shock value-the blood and guts are either descriptive, driving the plot forward, or representing a character moment. Readings that call this book merely “a plea to become vegetarian” miss the development of the protagonist- the real treat in Tender is The Flesh is being confronted with the fact that Marcos is not as virtuous as he wants us to believe. That said, this book leaves nothing out- and is not for the faint of heart- but it’s definitely worth reading if you like gripping, dark, but realistic settings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

melliedm's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• 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

4.0

I mean this in the best way possible: what the fuck.

Tender is the Flesh takes place in a dystopian version of our society where animals allegedly became dangerous to eat, and the majority turned to cannibalism out of their desperation for meat (or their need to fit within societal norms) 

As you can imagine from that description, things are pretty fucked up, and Bazterrica does not flinch away from any dark corner in this world. It’s a meditation on artificial scarcity, violence, humanity, tribalism, abuse, and the objectification of life. You’ll need a strong nerve to get through this one, but it’s a worthwhile journey if you want to stomach it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Cannibalism, Classism, Confinement, Medical content, Excrement, Pregnancy, Body horror, Child death, Abandonment, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Slavery, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Trafficking, Ableism, Animal death, Gore, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Torture

lukel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A dark and difficult read, but I stuck with it since the main character was so interesting. The ending was very unexpected. Definitely a fun read, if you don’t mind being very disturbed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma

onthelam's review against another edition

dark sad tense

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Normally I enjoy grotesque disgusting descriptive books but this was just pointless and insensible? Most of the scenes didn't add to the story and were just dragging. It felt like a short story stretched to fit a whole book. Also, there was some stuff included to make the twist believable but there was so much more against it.

If he didn't care for jasmine at all then why did he name her, treat her as a human and all that? He could have just raped her and kept her in the barn dirty till she gave birth if that was all he wanted. And the things that point to him not being the somewhat moral person as portrayed in most of the book can also be explained by the sense of helplessness prevalent through it like the puppy scene and the fact that he killed his dogs. So really there was no good foreshadowing and it was just there to add shock value.

. I liked the idea a lot and some of the things early on especially the commentary on humanity in general but the execution could have been much better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Excrement, Genocide, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Death, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Vomit, Bullying, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Self harm, Police brutality, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Confinement

headachesince03's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Medical content, Misogyny, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Infidelity, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and Homophobia

lizardgod's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

"She had the human look of a domesticated animal."
pg. 156

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Violence, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Death, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Grief, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror

ashleyvharris's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Oh God, where do we even start with this book? It is so short but took me so long to get through because I had to put it down and take breaks. I’m torn between disgust at the horrific premise and impressed at the author’s ability to write about this world in such a believable way. 

The premise of legal cannibalism is interesting given that in 49 states it is not illegal to eat human flesh or drink human blood (give that it was obtained legally). *Googled so many ethical questions about this after reading*  I think Bazterrica builds a fairly believable world around this cultural shift. I also appreciated the idea that the animal virus that caused these communities to turn to cannibalism could’ve been a government created hoax to control overpopulation.

While I didn’t particularly click with any of the characters, Bazterrica addresses many relevant themes and questions in the story. Poverty, the ethics of eating meat (animal or human), child loss, grief, isolation, depression, manipulative familial relationships, etc. 

The whole thing still feels… pretty gross. But I also knew what the book was about going into it, so I can’t be shocked. There’s really no way to make a story of cannibalism not disturbing. If you enjoy unsettling stories that consider ethical dilemmas, this one is for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Animal death, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual assault, Racism, Emotional abuse, and Rape

jadedreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Sexual content, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Body horror, Death of parent, Dementia, Child death, Grief, Gore, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

starryybella's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.5

Wow. Just wow.

I know I’ve read rather stomach-turning and graphic books, but I’ve never read anything like this.

Even with “American Psycho” by Bret Easton Ellis, the punches didn’t keep rolling like it did with this book.

“Carcass. Cut in half. Stunner. Slaughter line. Spray wash. These words appear in his head and strike him. Destroy him. But they’re not just words. They’re the blood, the dense smell, the automation, the absence of thought. They burst in on the night, catch him off guard. When he wakes, his body is covered in a film of sweat because he knows that what awaits him is another day of slaughtering humans,” the first paragraph entails. Nothing could have prepared me for that, not even reading the back. Which is why I share it now - take it as you will.

From the first words, we’re desensitized to the horrors entailed in this book - because nothing gets better, as much as you want it to. The descriptions become even more gore-y, and increasingly, the lines of morality in this world become blurred quickly.

Yes, this book fasts forwards to a seemingly not-so-distant future - in fact, the more I read it, it resembled modern day technology, of course, not minding the fact all animal meat production has now turned to human meat production. But no one calls them humans anymore. They’re merely “special meat” when slaughtered or “head” when they’re livestock.

After the “virus” that made all animals dangerous to eat or to even keep as pets, the government implemented “The Transition”. Most pets and animals were slaughtered, and cannibalism became adopted after widely-adopted research showed eating animal proteins is crucial for survival.  

Not just adopted - embraced.

While the book follows our main character Marcos in his day-to-day life in this dystopian future, he faces another problem: he gets an FGP (First Generation Pure, the top-of-the-line meat) female sent to him as a gift. He’s to keep her as livestock, to either artificially inseminate for more livestock, or for slaughter. Marcos doesn’t want to though - ever since losing his child due to SIDS, his wife left him due to the grief and ever since the baby’s simulacrum funeral, he’s sworn off of eating meat. He names her Jasmine after her natural scent of wild jasmine, and becomes increasingly more sensitive to her humanity.

The second part of the book takes a turn

after Marcos indulges in the crime of “enjoying” the livestock - and impregnates Jasmine. This could land them both in the Municipal Slaughterhouse as punishment and get them both killed. The second part still focuses on the cruelty and goriness of the meat industry, but has this second plotline layered carefully on top of it. Marcos increasingly teaches her what it means to be human again and takes care of her while she bears his child in secret, in spite of the rest of the world. It’s a bold rejection of the society that has been forced upon them.

But… Something irked me about the second part.

Jasmine, like all livestock, has her vocal cords cut out since “meat doesn’t talk” and has a child-like aspect to her since she never has experienced kindness - only fear has been taught to her. This blurs the lines of consent. She’s 22 canonically, but something doesn’t sit right with me.

While she is taught humanity and something is brought back to her now that she’s being cared for, there’s still this animalistic part that doesn’t allow her to be able to register a lot of the world around her. This love she carries for Marcos is just her reflecting what he gives her - but it also resembles the love and affection a pet has for its owner.

Take what you will. It’s something to consider when reading this book.

 The distant third-person limited narration sends chills down the reader’s spine, with a masterful translation done by translator Sarah Moses. We aren’t even sure of Marcos’s name until several chapters into the book, and even so, it’s only other characters referring to him by his name in dialogue. Even he isn’t a person because of how much this present has degraded him and stripped him of humanity, much like the “head”. The process dehumanizes not only its victims quite literally, but those participating and involved in the slaughter.

This book made me seriously consider vegetarianism or veganism for the first time. The author painstakingly made the process of slaughtering “special meat” so similar to the slaughter of pigs, cows, and other animals for consumption. Doing the mental swap of pigs and cows to humans puts things into perspective. 

This book is a damnation of not only the meat industry, but of society; society can adapt to the most cruel and awful things and completely disregard morals if it serves their desires and self-interest. Governments can also manipulate and distort the truth beyond the point of recognition - as the test of time through history has shown.

There’s also beauty in this destruction and in what once was - Marcos visits a zoo that has been torn apart when havoc wreaked after the “virus” broke out, and has memories of being young and going there with his father before the transition. Even after being chased out of the zoo by rabid, feral dogs after discovering four puppies, he calls them beautiful as he sits in his car and watches them from the window.

Refusing to pay attention to the atrocities in the book is a refusal to bear witness to the cruelty of humanity - innately, carnal desires run deep in our society, and this book hits close to home on what that carnage can lead us to. 

This book will never leave my mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Cannibalism, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Murder, Excrement, Grief, Terminal illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, and Death of parent