At first, I was very intrigued by the plot, but reading it I was not 100% sure.
12 stories about pleasure and sexuality, it seemed very interesting and appealing, but I found myself confused by the time I finished the second story.
It is an easy read, so I think I am going to finish it anyway. Maybe it gets better with the following stories.

This was such a weird book, but also had some great stories (loved Ladies' Bar and Meaty Pleasures frankly). It definitely has a very sensuous language and manages to build a solid universe; the sordidness of some of the stories, how the ambiance was created in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, complicit in the shame and growing realization the characters feel was very compelling but repelling at the same time. Nevertheless, I do feel some of the stories could've used another edit, because sometimes the sense of disorientation feels off, . That said, I did not quite enjoy this book, but I am aware it's a matter of personal taste. For anyone who might need them, some trigger warnings include incest in the second story (You Never Know) and rape in two stories: The Caretaker and You Never Know.

Thank you Katakana and Netgalley for allowing me to read this!

The 12 stories in this brief collection marry the erotic with the uneasy in beautiful, sensuous, and startling ways. Its characters inhabit liminal and ephemeral spaces and states as they experience desire, disgust, desolation, and transformation. At once inspiring aversion and appetite, these are the kinds of stories that demand their readers submit to the experience and ask no questions—and that are written with enough skill and expressiveness to make this demand reasonable.

In a few places—particularly in the second story—there are odd details, such as inexplicable perspective shifts, that jarred me out of the reading trance to puzzle over whether the abruptness was intentional or an error in translation. For me, these were the only flaws in an otherwise mesmerizing collection.

This is a stunning and surprising book. Reading these stories makes it easy to understand why Mónica Lavín’s work is acclaimed in Mexico. While this is her first book to be translated into English, I hope it will not be the last.

I received a free advance copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Isn't "Meaty Pleasures" a perfect title for a collection of very carnal stories? From the first sight the book and the cover got me hooked and I was very curious to read it.

Monica Lavin has a unique talent for what I call "sensual writing". Her stories evoke all the senses: the sight, the taste, the touch, the smell, the hearing. Lavin creates the worlds that the reader can truly immerse in. For the author, eroticism is not exclusive to beautiful, wealthy characters, as we often see in contemporary erotica that if filled overly aestheticised depiction of sex, and depicts the right types of people who are allowed to engage in it. Quite the contrary. In her stories pleasure, meaty or not, can be found in various settings--from dance parties in "bad neighbourhoods" to cheap motels, and intimacy can occur between long-term partners and acquaintances, as well as complete strangers.

"Meaty Pleasures" are not as descriptive when it comes to portraying sex, as readers of erotica might be used to. Sexuality and sensuality in Lavin stories lay in exploration, interaction, energy between the characters. It's not necessary your literary "masturbatory aid", but an opportunity to explore different shades of erotic experience, that do not always include actual sex.

One thing that should be looked into, are trigger warnings. Some stories toy with very taboo subjects and desires, such as sexualising non-consent and actual incest, and as they are explorative, this subjects might be very upsetting or re-traumatising for some readers.

The book is right between “Delta of Venus” by Anais Nin and “Bad behaviour” by Mary Gatskill, in a Mexican setting. We have a voyeuristic look into the maid at a hotel who quietly celebrates and longs to be part of a mysterious couple’s ritual, the runaway wife who meets her online lover IRL, the cheated husband who eats eggs every day and many other everyday characters. Although each story is different, the theme of desire and longing, unrequited love and secret affairs entwine them. Each story is told as if the narrator is telling us their dirty secret in a bar.