Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

12 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

beebookcandle's review against another edition

Too disturbing 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ams5x9's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

insidious_toxins's review against another edition

It overwhelmed me with anxiety & usually I’m a very good person at handling morbid things but this book was made to give anxiety & disgust. It achieved its goal but I can’t personally ever recommend this book to anyone at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

sarahshock's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Amazing book! Highly recommend. The ending is insane!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

annachristine50's review against another edition

dark medium-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? Yes

2.75

Don’t read. I hated the way I felt reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood

I hate myself for reading this.

marielkitty's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Miscarriage, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

xoxojaydub's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Death of parent

holdenwunders_'s review against another edition

4.5

This may be the hardest book to rate so I went with a solid three because I’m truly not sure if it deserves a five or a one. Perhaps sitting on it longer will make me more decisive but I have a feeling that this is one of those books that sits with you and sinks into your mind and stays there forever. I typically have a high tolerance for gruesome things and I read the first half in one sitting, although it was disturbing, I didn’t feel grossed out or even fucked in the head. Don’t get me wrong this book starts off brutal but it’s all there in the title and in the synopsis so I knew what I was getting into. I took a long break and came back to my second sitting and finished it and man, if I weren’t writing about it right now I’d say I was speechless. 

We have a main character tethering us in this fucked up world where we eat humans and treat them like we do the meat on our plates today. Our protagonist keeps us grounded albeit his job is pretty fucked, we know there are good people still out there. This is the kind of book that needs some sort of empathy tying us to the book otherwise it would just be a gore fest for the sake of it and what’s the point then?  This book was masterful to say the least. Horrifying to say the obvious. And I’m not sure how I feel except it was done expertly. I’m disturbed. Horrified. Bamboozled. And I know some of these images will stay with me for life.  Grab some Soylent Green and get to reading folks.

UPDATE: This book has still been in my head since I read it over a year ago. It pops in my head constantly and the more time away from it the more I realize how much I enjoyed it. Agustina Bazterrica recently announced a new book and I immediately was so excited to read something new by her. This is moving up to a 4.5 ⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

branwynnemay's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Word to the wise: if you’re an empathetic person, do not just pick this one up.

The bleakness of The Jungle and the unrelenting horror of human nature of Parable of the Sower, The Road and 1984… but without any of the goodness those story’s authors offer the reader to hold on to. After all, to live in this world and be good, one would go insane- just as to read this book and be good, the reader must disassociate and consistently hold counsel with the questions this story begs. How deep is our collective cognitive dissonance that we can eat meat? Why don’t we care more about how our food is raised and slaughtered? What is our relationship to each other, ourselves and nature? If sociopaths have no empathy, what are we, and who do we want to be? 

This story was too dark for me, too painful and despairing. It’s honestly the most horrific book I have ever read and I felt traumatized when it was over. The only way I should have read it was in small doses with a large book club who met often to have long discussions and support one another. 

But I didn’t. And I’m sorry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Graphic, gore, traumatizing, horrific, despairing