The WORST Books I Read in 2022 Bad Werewolf Romances, Murderous Children, Cannibalism, and more

Cindy out here cosplaying Jughead Jones

I would argue that "Tender is the Flesh" goes a little overboard when it comes to representing the cruelty we show farm animals in the meat industry. If somebody bought a cow to keep on their family farm and they ate it alive (as in that whole "death by a thousand cuts" moment the mc's siser had) or cut its limbs off while it gestated its calf, I do believe that person would be in some serious trouble for animal abuse! Normal people generally don't like the idea of any living thing going through unimaginable suffering just for funsies. I think the characters in that book are comically sadistic.

“I would have rather watched him f*ck a cow than be stuck with the ending that we got!”

If this was the case, you could have read “Cows” by Matthew Stokoe! 😅

I know this is from almost a year ago but if anyone’s reading this hear me out on tender is the flesh. The whole “these are inhumane conditions we’re already putting animals through” is like the tippy tip of the iceberg. It’s more of a commentary on how humans are willing to treat and see other humans—the main character’s cognitive dissonance between his understanding that the “head” he was given is another human and the fact that the entire world around him has accepted the idea that certain humans are simply cattle is the point of the book and their relationship. Especially when it comes to the end.

I should have listened when you said tender is the flesh is a shitty book

"'fixing his too-handsome face in a gruesome parody of a grin.'
Who's smiling now, motherfucker?"
... he is.

Shiver was so disappointing to me, I read it and DNF'd after I read The Scorpio Races and genuinely enjoyed it

About 'Tender is the flesh' and it's ending. I was actually bummed about it too. I was hoping for some change, if not for the whole society then at least for the main guy. He already said he doesn't like eating human meat and has been criticizing how the world became in small ways. Beeing mad that this fictional character didn't try to change for the better made me think tho. Like... would I? Or rather am I trying right now? As you said, we treat animals like this... you can see that in documentaries like 'Dominion'. Anyyway I'm vegan now and this book was one of the things getting me there 🌱

oh my godd shiver, I read that when I was in middle school
it was like the last romance book I read for 8 years because I got so sick of the concept of romance novels around that time and especially YA romance being as formulaic as it is. I don't think I specifically attributed that to anything but maybe... lol

"so this books asks... would you fuck a cow?"
There's another really infamous book that asks that question featuring talking cows and much much more poop.

I’m so late on this but PLEASE make a full video on Shiver! We need a full revieww

i will say i read tender is the flesh and there's definitely a need to go in with some cultural understanding! i'm argentinian and we really do love our meat (trust me), so i know if this author does practice veganism it's gotta be tough for her down there. but i think looking at it through my cultural lens helped me suspend my disbelief a little more, even at the more shocking scenes. i have my own criticisms of the book for sure (a lot of the world building was super open ended, and it felt somewhat disjointed in a lot of parts) but after reading a lot of reviews and listening to yours, i think it actually achieved what it set out to do. it created a cognitive dissonance in the book between humans and 'heads' similar to one that makes existing with the harm we do to animals possible to live with--and further, it also shows how propaganda, language, and the human capacity to rationalize trauma can make us dehumanize others. And that's the real cognitive dissonance the book touches on--it's not 'would you fuck a cow', so much as 'which humans do we decide are the cows? and how do we internally justify treating them that way?'. for those questions, i think the ending was perfect. you just also had to accept by the ending that the main character wasn't ever salvageable, and part of the sick system by way of apathy (mostly). however, lot of people do come away with a purely anti-carnivore perspective, or with a lot of horror at the shock value stuff, which is fair. it mostly has a lot to say about capitalism as consumption. i also personally just think real life is example enough so the fantasy/though experiment felt almost a little obtuse to me, especially knowing the really awful stuff both Argentina and the US have down to their indigenous and Black populations. i don't need to pretend that animals all have a virus to know that humans have already resorted to cattle level conditions for other human beings. so. i guess the book has some points to make if you've never picked up a (non US-curriculum) history book!

I finished tender is the flesh last night and feel exactly the same as you did!!!

"...and somehow it is none of things." Sums up my reading this year. Subscribed.

The point of Tender is the Flesh is that the MC (who represents the reader and most people in society) is a massive hypocrite and he's been a hypocrite the entire time. The issue is that the entire novel has execution issues.

Holy shit I just got sidelined by the cover of Shiver. I bought it at a used bookstore in high school and forgot about it for YEARS. ugh I recall it being so emo and the only thing that stood out was that the parents were actual trash

Cindy please I NEED a video of you talking about Shiver, at least the first book. I genuinely was EXHAUSTED when I finished it and I was like, fifteen, and now I'm 25 and I think it broke me completely to the point of no return. And I have read The Raven Cycle and it is beautifully written, i could not BELIEVE IT when I discovered that the author wrote both sagas. Everyone around me loved Shiver back then and I felt so crazy because I was CONVINCED it was bad. So yeah I would love a review from your perspective but I don't want you to suffer it, it would be amazing if you could buddy read it with someone because at least share that insanity of a journey

Cindy is basically cosplaying as Suga from BTS here and I'm here for it

ugh i got they never learn from the library. not gonna read now

Did she ever do a video for Shiver? I also attended Maggie's writing conference and would enjoy seeing just how far her writing has come in comparison, lol. I fell a bit behind, so I may have missed it, but if she just hasn't made the video yet, I hope she eventually does to a full one on Shiver. And on Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, just because I wanna know what happens but don't want to read it because I know that shiz wouldn't stay platonic.

With the first book I would like to see the character nervous. Paranoid almost and kinda breaking down over being so morally grey because as a woman there’s a lot of heft on silence when it comes to abuse. A lot of victim blaming mentality. I would love to see the main being more angry with every kill but the other side of increasing just uncaring attitude. I dunno if any of that happens tho from the summary tho it seems not. IDE also like her to encounter a guy that “didn’t meant to” yknow. It could be so much more interesting for the femal protag