Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Cadáver exquisito by Agustina Bazterrica

568 reviews

cryptidenthusiast'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Outside of just being gross to be gross, this book really isn’t much beyond shock value. I can’t quite tell if there’s supposed to be a message about “human greed and lack of empathy” (which is a moot point considering actual studies done proving otherwise) or everything else that felt shoehorned in. 

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 sudden sexual assault chapter also felt completely unnecessary, and did nothing to move the plot along or actually provide anything outside of more disdain for Marcos.

 

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• 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

Beautifully written, incredibly dark, and a story worth reading

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Grief, Rape, and Pedophilia

anissawren's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Slavery, Physical abuse, Torture, Confinement, Animal death, Death, Child death, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal cruelty, Grief, Body horror, Murder, Sexual violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Dementia, Miscarriage, Infertility, and Abortion

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, and Racism

vinise's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

bookwormbarber's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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

2.5

I don’t really know what to say about this book… I didn’t really like it, but I also can’t stop thinking about it. 

The entire first half of the book is world building, and this world is f*cked and let’s just say I’ve never been more happy to be a vegan while reading a book. 

The rest of the plot seemed really disjointed and rushed. I know there’s probably deep messages about humanity, loss, and grief, but the graphic cannibalism over shadowed that a bit, you know?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual violence, Slavery, Child death, Genocide, Grief, Pregnancy, Dementia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Medical content, Murder, and Rape

zsnails99's review against another edition

dark 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Body horror, Gore, Dementia, and Death of parent

writingcaia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Unforgettable.
I have no words. 
This book is so thought provocative. I’m disgusted and appalled. Can I understand the motivations, the conditioning, the falling of all that makes us human? I can’t but I can totally see it happening.
The parallel between the institutionalised cannibalism and our current meat industry is undeniable, but it goes further. 
It’s also a story of grief, of conforming, of madness and wrong decisions. And, the writing, the beautiful lyrical way of showing the worst, is amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Grief, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Dementia

Minor: Trafficking, Infertility, Excrement, and Rape

csmoke85's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Cannibalism, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Grief and Death of parent

parkerluck's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• 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

3.75

I was rec'd this based off of how much I like Oryx and Crake and it was indeed in line! Good writing, I didn't feel like the violence or content was "gratuitous" or shock over substance or whatever else. The subject matter is horrific so heed warnings, but it's explored well and I felt it was pretty in line with, again, O&C or other bleak dystopia stuff. Enjoyed the character work for the MC, the rest of the cast wasn't as fleshed out but didn't really need to be for such a quick read. 

The people saying the ending was a "twist" don't know how to read imo. The book does a good job of building Marcos, showing you who he is, who he thinks he is, how he fits into the world.

As far as unreliable narrators go, he's not even very unreliable and the story doesn't try to conceal what he's doing or capable of doing at any point. Combined with the Icarus thread he tells himself at the end (it doesn't matter if you fall, what matters is that for a moment you were a bird), it's a very basic set up and execution of him as a character. Frustrating to see other people have so much trouble with the dissonance between the actual narrative and the narrative Marcos himself constructs tbh but what can you do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Rape, and Gore

jojothefool's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

This book……… is so messed up. I really enjoyed myself. But basically after every chapter I would put the book down and reflect, “….. what the HELL am I reading?” And then I’d pick it back up and keep going. Very dark, very disturbing, but really makes you think about kind of everything? Government corruption, the meat industry, the class system, the inherit value of man……. I can’t give it 5 stars because it messed with me too hard, but it was very well written and a very interesting read that I would recommend if you can handle the content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

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