Review: Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
Tender is the Flesh
by Agustina Bazterrica
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Publish Date: February 26, 2020 (first published on November 29, 2017)
Paperback
224 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Horror, Dystopia
It all happened so quickly. First, animals became infected with the virus and their meat became poisonous. Then, governments initiated the Transition. Now, ‘special meat’ – human meat – is legal.
Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans only no one calls them that. He works with numbers, consignments, processing. One day, he’s given a gift to seal a deal: a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her in his barn, tied up, a problem to be disposed of later.
But the specimen haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, her eyes that watch him, that seem to understand. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost – and what might still be saved..
My Review:
Ever since I first heard about this book, I knew I needed to read it. Animals are no longer safe to eat, so the world turns to humans to supply carnivores their ..... humans to eat. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised at how quickly this would happen should the world EVER get in this position. And whatever kind of person this makes me, I liked reading about the process and even ate a cheeseburger while reading. 😏 There's been so much hype arount this that while this is a disturbing and bloody dark book, I think I expected... more. There was really only one scene that made me cringe and humans weren't the ones being hurt, flayed, bloodied up in it.
I really liked Marcos's character. Yes he works in human slaughtering. Yes he was gifted a female who he kept like a pet. But no, he didn't eat the special meat. He seemed to have a little teeny bit of a moral conscious while still going along with the direction of the human species. I almost felt like I understood him and that also makes me consider what kind of person I am again. 🤣 So to see his character kind of evolve was quite interesting. I admit that I did get a bit bored towards the middle of the read. But that ending honestly made me smile. I wasn't expecting to get shocked in *that* way but I appreciated the full circle.
There were parts of this book that reminded me of the movie, The Farm. It's not a great movie but I appreciated it the way I appreciate this book (though this book is quite a bit better imo). Concept, love. Disgusting level, high. Execution.... meh? I felt like there was something missing that made it feel a bit incomplete and some opportunities may have been lost. But my grotesque loving black heart equally cringed and evilly smiled at everything that was going on.
★★★
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