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sierrabowers's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Animal cruelty, Dementia, Medical content, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Gun violence, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Grief, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Sexism, Cannibalism, Death, Torture, Trafficking, and Vomit
lucent_moon's review against another edition
4.5
I went into the book almost completely blind, and was completely on edge the whole read. Dark, cynical, and occasionally funny. Only thing keeping me from a full 5 stars are two specific scenes. I absolutely loved it, but I'm not sure I'll be rereading it anytime soon.
Graphic: Trafficking, Classism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Slavery
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
katvanfos's review against another edition
Graphic: Child death, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abortion, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, and Gore
annathechaoticreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Booktok very much over hyped this. It was a very okay novel, I can't think of anything it did wrong or to justify a lower review, but I also can't think of anything it did particularly well. It was mildly disturbing and made me stop and think a couple of times but not all that life/perspective changing. If you tend to like dystopian fiction and are newer to the genre, I think it's worth a try, but beware booktok strikes again, go in with lower expectations than I did.
Thoughts Upon Reflection:
The book is very heavy handed about its eating meat=bad beliefs which I found exhausting. At many times throughout the story I found myself shouting "OH MY GOD I GET IT!!! MEAT IS MURDER. JUST TELL ME THE STORY" into the void. It makes very weird parallels that I don't agree with and there was next to no room for nuanced discussion. I will say its possible that because it is a translated novel that the above issues only apply to the English translation and that its a fault of the translator rather than Augustina.
Another issue I have is that to me none of the characters actually felt like fleshed out people, rather just objects things happen to/around. The main characters motivations make no sense (especially in the second half), where he doesn't even feel like a person, you don't really get to know him and then what little you do gets completely contradicted in the second half of the book. I can't even call it character development because it feels like he sees one shitty thing than a switch flips and he's completely different. Through the whole time reading, I did not feel any type of way towards any character, I didn't care about any of them which made it hard to care about the novel. When I first finished it I felt no type of way but the longer I've had to sit with it, the more I'm growing to dislike it. The worst part is that it could have been so good, with some more nuance and character development it would have been a very interesting story!
There is also a graphic sexual assault scene which I wish I had known about going in. As a surviver of S/A I try to stay away from novels with it unless I've had time to prepare and be in a good headspace to consume it. So a completely RANDOM S/A scene that doesn't matter to the plot really caught me off guard and almost immediately ruined the book. I'm fine with assault scenes if and only IF it is important to the plot/character development. My problem is when its thrown in to demonstrate a character being shitty or for shock value, which I feel is the reason it was included in Tender Is The Flesh; if you removed the whole chapter it would make absolutely no difference and THATS where I have the problem.
People call it a horror novel when its really not, its a dystopian and while not a huge issue, it just sets up expectations that it doesn't live up to! It felt a lot more akin to books like the Handmaids Tale than those in the horror genre. So if you want a horror novel, probably don't pick this up but if you want a kinda disturbing, dark dystopian then maybe this will be your book!
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Rape, Murder, Animal death, Slavery, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Classism
50shadesofrae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Death, Classism, Cannibalism, Violence, and Rape
s4r41d's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Classism, Child death, Blood, Murder, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Cannibalism, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Sexual assault
jojothefool's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, Child death, Torture, Murder, Death of parent, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, and Death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Trafficking, Classism, and Excrement
Minor: Rape
pantslint's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Dementia, Animal death, Slavery, Torture, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Miscarriage
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Alcohol
thejazziestbean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Body horror, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Blood, Abandonment, Animal death, and Classism
ravenousrose's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Confinement, Dementia, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence