A review by butteredtoastinbed
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Phew! This was such an emotionally taxing novel, but I am very glad that I read it.
This book had such strong storytelling and imagery which kept me thoroughly engaged the entire way through. The characters were flawed and layered and real, which I think is very important for the story and which I really appreciated.
I’ve seen some criticism that say this novel is glorified torture porn and the violence adds nothing to the story, which I wholeheartedly disagree with and this book would not be even close to as good as it is without the graphic and horrifically shocking imagery.
One criticism I do have is that there seemed to be a lot of secondary characters that I had a difficult time keeping up with and keeping track of, thankfully a lot of them only showed up a small number of times (if not once), so this didn’t end up being an issue in terms of understanding the story.
I didn’t find the ending as groundbreakingly shocking as other readers did, but it was still powerful enough for me to sit in silence and think the whole novel over after I’d finished.
Overall, I am very glad that I read this novel and I do think it is a fantastic and very powerful piece of literature. It is certainly not for all readers, and is difficult to get through at times, but as a whole was worth it.
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