Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

326 reviews

heavenperry's review against another edition

sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical content, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Rape, Death, Murder, Cannibalism, Confinement, Infertility, Slavery, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, and Blood

sophduncshep's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? N/A

3.5

Right up until the last couple of chapters, I found this profoundly sad. Then I hated it. It’s brilliant for what it achieves but I don’t even want it in my house anymore 🤣 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Confinement, Child death, Dementia, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Medical content, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

bookishchaos's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Not sure how I feel about this. It has a unique concept for a horror novel but it also made me feel icky. The environment/world setting is pretty horrfic and shows the terrors that humans could possibly be capable of. But this book is very short, so the characters weren't devoloped, it focused mainly on the politics of the story, and by the end of it, the book felt incomplete.

However, I did like at the end when you realize that our main character is the villian. His character starts out okay, but progressively becomes horrible. That was very different and unexpected.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cannibalism, and Rape

Moderate: Torture, Child death, and Murder

Minor: Medical content, Infertility, and Pregnancy

jennygeee's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Medical content, Rape, Violence, Child death, Gore, and Torture

bitterpeaches's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica 
4/5🌟

“He doesn’t call it meat. He uses technical words to refer to what is a human but will never be a person, to what is always a product.”

Bizzare and unsettling to say the least, but out of the 7 books I am currently sifting through… it was finished in a day. To be honest, the whole premise feels very ‘Animal Rights Activist’-y and the writing is really stilty. That said, it was actually really good and if you were one of those kids who liked movies like GATTACA or Soylent Green you will absolutely devour this. Short read like less than 275 pages.

If you can read spanish I would read it in Spanish! It was originally written in Spanish and I don’t think the translator did a super good job because it can be hard to read in places.

PS there’s a cool Spotify to listen to while you read it https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3rM1xhmabsE4UavushTFNn?si=Ozo_17q8TbGdA56ztfNSKQ&pi=u-oTbwWEPSSvOo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Grief, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Body horror, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Dementia, Gore, and Infertility

thelibraryofanolive's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual violence, Torture, Excrement, Murder, Body horror, Chronic illness, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Dementia, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Confinement, Classism, Death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death of parent, Trafficking, Violence, Alcohol, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Abortion, Kidnapping, Medical content, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, and Drug use

mercedesmosley's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

By far the most intense book I've ever read. Had a hard time putting it down. I will say though, it is not for those with a weak stomach. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Infertility, Violence, Mental illness, Death, Body horror, Sexual content, Medical content, Blood, Gore, Torture, Infidelity, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

jemmers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

This book was cruel and lean. Starts off at a moderate pace and builds to a fast, brutal conclusion. It’ll sit with you. The world and characters are horrible and I couldn’t look away.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Rape, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, Animal death, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical content, Blood, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Body horror, Trafficking, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Child death, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

krispi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

This has been one of the few books I’ve ever read that I was genuinely surprised by how it ended. It is very much a commentary on how people can be controlled by conspiracies and the potential to lose their humanity. It was very rough to get through and very well written. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget the ending 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Classism, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death, Murder, Torture, Animal death, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infertility, Alcoholism, Child death, Dementia, Violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, and Death of parent

shewhoturnsallpages7834's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Marcos has a hyper-fixation on words. In world that literally rips the vocal cords of their facility breed "special meat" in order to circumvent the sounds of another human beings suffering, he continues to crave connection. His inner world is bleak yet descriptive when it comes to his judgments of others, and justifications of himself. 

 I was not mentally prepared for the gory details of the "processing plant" and I spend the first couple of pages with a permanent scowl on my face. Unsure of the virus is real or not, or a sinister conspiracy to allow humanity to capitalize on its lurking darkness, I am still struggling to wrap my mind around the decisions of the main character. Marcos appears to grapple with his almost nihilistic  decision to embrace cannibalism as part of his livelihood until a breakdown in his judgement leads to his ultimate prize. 

He oscalites between looking down on his peers in the "meat" industry and kind-of envying their easy adjustment to stripping other humans down to their most basic parts literally, for entertainment, religion, and entertainment.  Like many others in this story, Marcos acknowledges the cognitive dissonance of it all and he suffers in silence. His desire to have a family ultimately acts as the catalyst for his corruption and final act of immolation. There are not enough words to adequately described the grotesqueness of it all. Meat. Head. Product. Disgusting. This medium paced dystopian novel had a few "food of thought" moments but in the end, I would not revisit it in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Murder, Body horror, Death of parent, Rape, Trafficking, Death, Grief, Suicide, Animal death, Infertility, Abandonment, Medical content, and Violence