Tender Is the Flesh

Every permutation of what would happen if cannibalism became the only option for survival is explored. Can anyone be refined or cultured (the pinnacle of being human) in a world where other humans are bred for meat? What does it mean to be civilized or wild? What connotations does the word “domestic” take on? I’m not entirely sure what the intended message of the book is but there are many possible to choose from, and they are all thought provoking.

All the content warnings for this one. This was tough to get though at some parts, but it masterfully conveyed how ruthless our society can get and much atrocity can be excused when in "crisis".

Wtf did I just read?

This definitely kept me turning pages, and I don't want to say it is bad, because it's not. But geez, it is uncomfortable and awkward and you're not gonna like anyone or anything.

It said some interesting things about how we view people (and who we view as people), but they didn't really feel as intense as I was expecting. Maybe this was due to how normalized the situation was from the start, or perhaps due to the fact that we had several groups of people doing this for different reasons and I didn't feel like each was explored enough?

The ending threw me a bit. It wasn't out of nowhere, but it was not the way I quite expected things to go and I feel like I lost what I'd thought of as character development by the way things were settled. Maybe I shouldn't have assumed I was actually getting character development? I'm not sure how I was supposed to feel about that.

The pacing of the second half of the novel (novella? It's not super long) was a bit awkward. There are some time jumps, and things seem to slow down and then suddenly speed up for a few scenes. It's not terrible, but it felt odd coming from the first part, which was about discovering the world.

As a warning, unsurprisingly, this does contain violence against humans. It also includes animal violence, for those that had squared themselves up for the first and were roundhouse kicked by the second from behind.

I'm not going to forget this novel. The sheer audacity of the concept makes sure of that. I'm just not sure if that's a good thing yet.

This book was unrelenting. I found myself reading it during my meal breaks at work which is, decidedly, a mistake.

I'm well aware of, and at this point of nearly a decade as a vegan, sadly unphased by the horrors of factory farming and meat consumption. The fact that this book was focused on human agriculture had me wondering- will people who read this and are unaware of what really happens at a factory farm think twice about consuming animals? Is human pain insufferable to picture and difficult to read, but animal pain permissible? The fictional workers at these processing plants, and tanneries still exist in the real world, and will they still be deserving of empathy as well once the reader finishes this book? The trophy hunters, butchers, and laboratory techs still hunt, maim, and vivisect animals, are they not deserving of the same disgust?

These are all things I thought about while reading this book. I think it's an incredible work that's incredibly critical of where our empathy lies, capitalism, class differences, and mass factory farming & consumption. This book is hard to recommend because it's so graphic and grotesque but I really enjoyed the questions that Bazterrica left me with.

morbid and appalling yet still well written and translated. I expect this story is going to bring on recurring night terrors

Tender is the Flesh was released at the perfect time, with the current global pandemic, a novel about a virus that changes the way we look at the world. Agustina Bazterrica’s novel primarily follows Marcos, who works in a slaughterhouse producing ‘special meat’. When the virus hit, all animals were infected andtheir meat became poisonous. The government had to make some changes to the law, now it was legal to buy ‘special meat’ – human meat.

This is a weird dystopian novel that has one very basic message that really sticks in your brain. The concept of giving up meat is so ridiculous that the country starts producing humans that will be used as meat. These are not people; they are cattle and are treated in that way. The concept of giving up meat and turning vegan is too preposterous for the country. Cannibalism becomes the norm.

The idea behind the novel seems to be focusing on just how cruel humans are, going to great detail to explain the process used to prepare meat at a slaughterhouse and the treatment of animals (in this case humans). Tender is the Flesh takes it a step further, with the retirement homes advertising the security they offer for your elderly relatives to protect them from being slaughtered and eaten. The world population drastically declines, and people have lost the ability to be caring or loving to others around them.

That is the entire premise, Tender is the Flesh takes a simple idea and plays out the situation. The way people turn on each other, the way people change their views on society and the ridiculous notion of becoming vegan. This is a dark comedy set in a dystopian world and executed with perfection. I cannot say that this converted me to becoming a vegan, but I think I honestly need to make more of an effort. An ugly look at our consumeristic culture and here I am, still wrestling with the idea of protecting the animals…I hate myself, but I think this novel achieved its goals.

This review originally appeared on my blog: www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/dystopia/tender-is-the-flesh-by-agustina-bazterrica/