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lizzisok's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Gore, Sexual assault, Medical content, Animal death, Excrement, Child death, Violence, Pregnancy, Cursing, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Death, Cannibalism, Rape, and Infidelity
cryptidenthusiast's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Is it commentary about ‘meat=murder’? How quickly people are willing to change their morals and follow whatever laws are in place if it means their own life isn’t disrupted? We jump from the processing plants, to actual human experimentation and that’s just brushed over? It felt like the author was trying to make too many points in a 200 page book, which just hurt the overall plot.
Marcos is an exhausting character to follow through the narrative. There’s NOTHING to him beyond being numb, emotionally detached, and contradictory. Despite being no better than the people around him, he carries himself with an air of being the smartest man in the room.
The ‘plot twist’ wasn’t really a shock, and the ending felt like it was just tacked on to leave you uncomfortable.
As for the writing itself, it felt extremely chopping and disconnected. A lot of sentences just put together with no real flow. It looks like the book was originally in Spanish though, so this is more of a point against the English translation than the author.
Not really something I’d recommend, and it was definitely overhyped online.
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Death, Grief, Murder, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Child death, and Dementia
lillyturmel'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Grief, Rape, and Pedophilia
chocchip's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Cannibalism and Violence
Moderate: Rape
dagaezoomer19's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Cannibalism
Moderate: Rape, Pedophilia, and Body horror
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
hawkbloc's review against another edition
Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Murder, Torture, Sexual violence, Dementia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child death, Excrement, Sexual content, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Blood, Suicide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, and Misogyny
vinise's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, Slavery, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Genocide, Sexual assault, Body horror, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, and Torture
ashlynregan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Infertility, Gore, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Trafficking, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Death, Rape, Animal death, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cannibalism, Body horror, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Death of parent
readwithollie's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death