Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías

7 reviews

hungry_wombat's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide

rosyapple's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

i think i maybe didn't get the metaphor (s)? Writing was good (not annoying)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Pregnancy

eveningreverie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Even though this story isn’t fully deserving of the horror tag it was marketed to me with, I found a lot of enjoyment within the pages. Will update post book club discussion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body horror, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm and Suicide

jenlengland's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Medical content

Minor: Child death, Fatphobia, Suicide, and Blood

not_another_ana's review against another edition

El fin del mundo más aburrido que he leído. Más mugre rosa, menos sobre el exmarido por favor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Medical content, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death

Descripciones de desorden alimenticio y atracones de comida.

brinnavirginia's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

abbie_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.25

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for my free digital ARC in exchange for a review!

If you were a fan of more understated dystopian fiction novels like Severance by Ling Ma and Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, you’ll definitely want to look out for Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías when it hits UK shelves on 1st August!

Translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary in absolutely gorgeous, seamless prose, this muted piece of Uruguayan fiction had me gripped despite its distinct lack of plot. The atmosphere Trías creates is exactly what I want from disaster fiction - fuelled by unease, unsettling in the fact that it’s so believable. This was originally published in 2020, and I think Trías wrote the bulk of it before the pandemic hit, but it ends up drawing eerie parallels between the real life catastrophe unfolding.

The ecological disaster in Pink Slime is unnamed, but people must stay inside when the siren sounds as that means the ‘red wind’ is coming - a grisly phenomenon which strips the skin from anyone caught in it. The unnamed narrator adjusts to this new life in her coastal town, slowly emptying as more well off inhabitants flee inland. She remains behind, caring for a boy with an unnamed disorder (which makes him insatiably hungry), paid well by his upper class parents. The critique of how global events affect people who have money differently isn’t in your face but it’s impossible to miss.

I loved the claustrophobic effect of seeing a large-scale disaster unfold through the lens of just one woman. Her everyday worries over the boy in her charge, her mother (whose behaviour grows ever more erratic) and her ex-husband who is in hospital inflicted with the disease but somehow not dead (admittedly this was the only part that left me scratching my head a bit, it didn’t feel fully explored) remain, even as she navigates the increasingly hostile new landscape of her city.

I know lots of us might not yet feel comfortable engaging with pandemic fiction, but I highly recommend this unsettling little gem!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic