Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

207 reviews

kelisabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Grief, Abortion, Animal death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Gore, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Dementia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Child abuse, Confinement, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Physical abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, and Rape

avrilamber's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

I think this was a well executed story. The concept is on the more disturbing side and having a morally ambiguous narrator does lend itself to the controversial concept that exists within this world quite well. The narrative I think is intentionally delivered with as much matter-of-factness as possible to increase the unsettling nature of this plot. This method of storytelling didn’t quite have the desired affect for me as I think I’m more desensitised to darker material, but I think the plot is an interesting concept and the last 5 or so pages were quite a surprise for me.

There is quite a sudden shift in the narrator’s motivations about halfway through the novel, along with a significant time jump, which I think took me out of the story and took a little while to get back into the swing of things. Overall, it’s a fully realised concept with a dark nature that doesn’t take too long to get through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Confinement

Moderate: Rape and Child death

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

shughes's review against another edition

dark sad 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Animal death, Sexual assault, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Gore, Murder, Pregnancy, and Torture

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

akaspiderlily's review against another edition

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

To be frank, it’s a terrible read. It is highly disturbing, while offering no real substance outside of its graphic detailed description of a cannibalistic future society. There is a fetishization at play almost, and the main character is a violent, raping, sociopath, whose only “human” characteristic lies in the fact that he does not enjoy eating human meat like “normal” with everyone else. Additionally, I found the truly horrific parts of it entirely too pathetically dismissive of the history this society would have had, as if caging humans, breeding them, hunting them, experimenting on them, and eating them, was not something practiced by white conquistadors and slavers on African and indigenous people. There is a literal mention of one of the villains in the story having a picture of a white colonizer with human heads in Africa as a point of reverence, yet only this present-day dystopia is horrific? Terrible. 0 stars. This is why I stay away from white authors.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Abortion, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Torture, Violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, and Trafficking

theochick's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Fucked up in the best sense of the phrase with characters who make your skin crawl the entire way

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Torture, Death, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Slavery, Dementia, Murder, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Gore, Child death, Trafficking, and Blood

Moderate: Infertility, Rape, Excrement, Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

There are holocaust parallels to be aware of as well

maddamreads'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book filled me with rage, disgust, sadness, thrill, and a whole other slew of emotions. Overall, the commentary on society, capitalism, grief, and dehumanization is striking. The prose in the translation is beautiful once you get used to it. That being said, some of the metaphors are a bit basic, and the storytelling might have been more effective as a short story. Then again, I wish some parts were more flushed out like

his grief over his child or father

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Slavery, Medical trauma, Torture, Animal death, Sexual violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Rape, and Infidelity

I threw up once. If you can stand body horror and psychological horror, you’ll be okay.

xeno_reads's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

A thought provoking look into a mirror of what humanity can be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Trafficking, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Excrement, Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Pregnancy, Vomit, Ableism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Animal death, Abandonment, Death, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Blood, Infertility, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child death, Body horror, Torture, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Slavery, Classism, and Sexual harassment

elinhaldira's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Classism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Slavery, Animal death, Miscarriage, Sexism, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Violence, Murder, Infertility, Animal cruelty, Gore, Racism, Confinement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Cannibalism, Forced institutionalization, and Death