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dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The concept of a dystopian world depicted in this book is definietly one I want to explore further, even beyond this book. It's a bleak future I would say could possibly come true, I definitely wouldn't put it past us. I found it fascinating (and a little disgusting) to go through these breeding plants, processing plants, and literally anywhere where we got a look into the world of cannibalism as something legal. It poses so many ethical and moral questions and as someone both interested in philosophy and have always found cannibalism fasciniating, I really liked that.
However, there are a lot of drawbacks here. For once, I actually want to go into detail of them and why this book could've been so much better, but falls short of what it is trying to do because of the execution.
I'll start by repeating what I said about the different parts of legal cannibalism and breeding them like they're animals. It's fascinating, but it poses many questions. Like when do they start to reproduce the females? Who were initially picked out to be the first people to breed? Is racism a bigger (though different) problem now because people are selective on what meat they want to eat and what skin they want to use as leather? All of these questions, and more I repeatedly asked throughout the book and never got an answer to. I'm not saying these aren't ethical and hard questions to answer, but in an established society, there should at least be some indication as to which direction things go. There is an instance of homophobia in there, and that alone is enough for me to lean into that rascism is still prevalent, even here. (not that I think it'll easily go away in general, which I don't think for homophobia either, but it didn't need the homophobia so i'm leaning in that direction).
The lack of answers are not what really bothers me with this book. What bothers me is the lack of exploration and the lack of a specific point that actually allows the book to have substance and show me why it was written. No, I don't think books need a specific message or a huge point to make, but I do think that a book that shows a dystopian world where cannibalism is okay need to do some of the same things 1984 and Brave New World does, which is actually show a why and a how; explore the reasons behind.
The animal virus is pretty explicitely stated to not be a thing throughout the book. He plays with puppies, nothing happens. Teenagers believe its a ploy from the governement to stop overpopulation. It's mentioned mulitple times, but there weren't anything to actually say that's true other than a conviction from the main character. It would have been more convinscing to explore that, to actually show a hint of worry or fear that it was in fact true, to show the skepticism that comes with not knowing and actually cuddling with dogs. Just a tiny something. It could've been the main focus of the book. Expose the government for using this to control overpopulation. It can still end with cannibalism. It's maybe not the most ethical way to deal with the problem, but it deals with the problem.
There's whole chapters that are unecessary. The sex chapter with the butcher Spanel gave me nothing and made no sense. Completely waste of my time to read it. It had nothing to add. I'm not also entirely sure what exactly the female FGP he got gifted had to add either. I get that he was conflicted with meat in general after his son died because he's valuing human life more, but then he just rapes her and keeps her as a pet because she gets pregnant and, what, that kid is going to replace and cover the loss of another kid?? also the ending sucked and I get it a little, but I also feel like it just didn't work.
The book could've explored a butcher who has lived through the Transition, seen both how life used to be when eating animals and humans, compared the differences, compared how people became (because people seem to have lost their humanity with being super cruel to animals and then also in general there are no good people in this book). This butcher lost his son in a completly natural way as a kid, and by that he couldn't eat human meat. he didn't manage. It didn't feel right. Maybe the book could've explored that. What's it like to choose not to eat meat in this world? Is vegetarianism actually a thing? Will you be looked down on? There was so much potential in this story and it just vanished.
This is a book that starts out really fascinating and actually has some social commentary, and then ends with some absurd ending that I don't feel make sense. And the character development was just the main character getting number and number and kind of giving up on life in general for absolutely no other reason that the possibilty of having a kid again (which i can understand), but also it sounded like he actually cared for Jasmine as he called her when he ended up just killing her in the end??
The last 150 pages of a 200 page book was really disappointed and now that I'm writing this review. 2 stars seem really generous.
However, there are a lot of drawbacks here. For once, I actually want to go into detail of them and why this book could've been so much better, but falls short of what it is trying to do because of the execution.
I'll start by repeating what I said about the different parts of legal cannibalism and breeding them like they're animals. It's fascinating, but it poses many questions. Like when do they start to reproduce the females? Who were initially picked out to be the first people to breed? Is racism a bigger (though different) problem now because people are selective on what meat they want to eat and what skin they want to use as leather? All of these questions, and more I repeatedly asked throughout the book and never got an answer to. I'm not saying these aren't ethical and hard questions to answer, but in an established society, there should at least be some indication as to which direction things go. There is an instance of homophobia in there, and that alone is enough for me to lean into that rascism is still prevalent, even here. (not that I think it'll easily go away in general, which I don't think for homophobia either, but it didn't need the homophobia so i'm leaning in that direction).
The lack of answers are not what really bothers me with this book. What bothers me is the lack of exploration and the lack of a specific point that actually allows the book to have substance and show me why it was written. No, I don't think books need a specific message or a huge point to make, but I do think that a book that shows a dystopian world where cannibalism is okay need to do some of the same things 1984 and Brave New World does, which is actually show a why and a how; explore the reasons behind.
The animal virus is pretty explicitely stated to not be a thing throughout the book. He plays with puppies, nothing happens. Teenagers believe its a ploy from the governement to stop overpopulation. It's mentioned mulitple times, but there weren't anything to actually say that's true other than a conviction from the main character. It would have been more convinscing to explore that, to actually show a hint of worry or fear that it was in fact true, to show the skepticism that comes with not knowing and actually cuddling with dogs. Just a tiny something. It could've been the main focus of the book. Expose the government for using this to control overpopulation. It can still end with cannibalism. It's maybe not the most ethical way to deal with the problem, but it deals with the problem.
There's whole chapters that are unecessary. The sex chapter with the butcher Spanel gave me nothing and made no sense. Completely waste of my time to read it. It had nothing to add. I'm not also entirely sure what exactly the female FGP he got gifted had to add either. I get that he was conflicted with meat in general after his son died because he's valuing human life more, but then he just rapes her and keeps her as a pet because she gets pregnant and, what, that kid is going to replace and cover the loss of another kid?? also the ending sucked and I get it a little, but I also feel like it just didn't work.
The book could've explored a butcher who has lived through the Transition, seen both how life used to be when eating animals and humans, compared the differences, compared how people became (because people seem to have lost their humanity with being super cruel to animals and then also in general there are no good people in this book). This butcher lost his son in a completly natural way as a kid, and by that he couldn't eat human meat. he didn't manage. It didn't feel right. Maybe the book could've explored that. What's it like to choose not to eat meat in this world? Is vegetarianism actually a thing? Will you be looked down on? There was so much potential in this story and it just vanished.
This is a book that starts out really fascinating and actually has some social commentary, and then ends with some absurd ending that I don't feel make sense. And the character development was just the main character getting number and number and kind of giving up on life in general for absolutely no other reason that the possibilty of having a kid again (which i can understand), but also it sounded like he actually cared for Jasmine as he called her when he ended up just killing her in the end??
The last 150 pages of a 200 page book was really disappointed and now that I'm writing this review. 2 stars seem really generous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Violence, Cannibalism
Moderate: Torture, Blood, Pregnancy
Minor: Body horror, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder
Moderate: Child death, Racism, Rape, Excrement, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Minor: Torture, Vomit
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow. Just wow.
I know I’ve read rather stomach-turning and graphic books, but I’ve never read anything like this.
Even with “American Psycho” by Bret Easton Ellis, the punches didn’t keep rolling like it did with this book.
“Carcass. Cut in half. Stunner. Slaughter line. Spray wash. These words appear in his head and strike him. Destroy him. But they’re not just words. They’re the blood, the dense smell, the automation, the absence of thought. They burst in on the night, catch him off guard. When he wakes, his body is covered in a film of sweat because he knows that what awaits him is another day of slaughtering humans,” the first paragraph entails. Nothing could have prepared me for that, not even reading the back. Which is why I share it now - take it as you will.
From the first words, we’re desensitized to the horrors entailed in this book - because nothing gets better, as much as you want it to. The descriptions become even more gore-y, and increasingly, the lines of morality in this world become blurred quickly.
Yes, this book fasts forwards to a seemingly not-so-distant future - in fact, the more I read it, it resembled modern day technology, of course, not minding the fact all animal meat production has now turned to human meat production. But no one calls them humans anymore. They’re merely “special meat” when slaughtered or “head” when they’re livestock.
After the “virus” that made all animals dangerous to eat or to even keep as pets, the government implemented “The Transition”. Most pets and animals were slaughtered, and cannibalism became adopted after widely-adopted research showed eating animal proteins is crucial for survival.
Not just adopted - embraced.
While the book follows our main character Marcos in his day-to-day life in this dystopian future, he faces another problem: he gets an FGP (First Generation Pure, the top-of-the-line meat) female sent to him as a gift. He’s to keep her as livestock, to either artificially inseminate for more livestock, or for slaughter. Marcos doesn’t want to though - ever since losing his child due to SIDS, his wife left him due to the grief and ever since the baby’s simulacrum funeral, he’s sworn off of eating meat. He names her Jasmine after her natural scent of wild jasmine, and becomes increasingly more sensitive to her humanity.
The second part of the book takes a turn after Marcos indulges in the crime of “enjoying” the livestock - and impregnates Jasmine. This could land them both in the Municipal Slaughterhouse as punishment and get them both killed. The second part still focuses on the cruelty and goriness of the meat industry, but has this second plotline layered carefully on top of it. Marcos increasingly teaches her what it means to be human again and takes care of her while she bears his child in secret, in spite of the rest of the world. It’s a bold rejection of the society that has been forced upon them.
But… Something irked me about the second part.
Take what you will. It’s something to consider when reading this book.
The distant third-person limited narration sends chills down the reader’s spine, with a masterful translation done by translator Sarah Moses. We aren’t even sure of Marcos’s name until several chapters into the book, and even so, it’s only other characters referring to him by his name in dialogue. Even he isn’t a person because of how much this present has degraded him and stripped him of humanity, much like the “head”. The process dehumanizes not only its victims quite literally, but those participating and involved in the slaughter.
This book made me seriously consider vegetarianism or veganism for the first time. The author painstakingly made the process of slaughtering “special meat” so similar to the slaughter of pigs, cows, and other animals for consumption. Doing the mental swap of pigs and cows to humans puts things into perspective.
This book is a damnation of not only the meat industry, but of society; society can adapt to the most cruel and awful things and completely disregard morals if it serves their desires and self-interest. Governments can also manipulate and distort the truth beyond the point of recognition - as the test of time through history has shown.
There’s also beauty in this destruction and in what once was - Marcos visits a zoo that has been torn apart when havoc wreaked after the “virus” broke out, and has memories of being young and going there with his father before the transition. Even after being chased out of the zoo by rabid, feral dogs after discovering four puppies, he calls them beautiful as he sits in his car and watches them from the window.
Refusing to pay attention to the atrocities in the book is a refusal to bear witness to the cruelty of humanity - innately, carnal desires run deep in our society, and this book hits close to home on what that carnage can lead us to.
This book will never leave my mind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Rape, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Murder
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
dark
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Given this book is a translation I will not spend much time on the writing quality itself. I do wish to note though that Bazterrica's style did not appeal to me as I found the language simplistic to the point it was at times distracting. I do not know if this is because of the translation or because this is what was intended. I appreciate simple language and can recognize when its use enhances a story. In this case, I felt that as a literary device it added nothing to the book and indeed detracted at times as I was distracted in some parts by the how repetitious things were becoming.
As for the plot of this book...what plot? To me this book felt like it was cataloguing daily life in a dystopian hellscape which itself lacked verisimilitude. The premise of the book is that humans can no longer consume animal meat due a virus that has apparently been around for several decades but to which there is no cure or any mutations of the virus. This alone seemed unrealistic to me. Then comes the rest of this highly unplausible off which the book is based: that in the absence of animal flesh, people just turn willingly to cannibalizing each other.
Never once did I feel there was an adequate explanation for why cannibalism was normalized other than that people enjoy eating meat. I have a difficult time believing that people as a whole enjoy meat so much that they'd be willing to socially sanction cannibalism in the absence of animal products. I also have a difficult time believing these actions would take place in a age where we have an increasing number of meat substitutes and lab grown meat is a concept that has been teased for years. The lack of compelling reason for cannibalistic activities to take place truly made this book difficult to engage with a serious work rather than as a poorly created piece of satire.
A lot of the writing is explicit and horrific, and for what? Because we *must* eat each other? Again, why? In the absence of a true answer to this question I feel like the graphic, gory scenes in this book exist not to make a comment on society but rather as a form of horror porn. Other elements of this book which gave me this impression included the way sexuality, rape, death, torture, and cannibalism are all mixed up with each other.
Other elements I did not enjoy included overtones of racism, misogyny, and classism. These elements I feel all had the potential to be used in a critical manner but instead just existed for no apparent purpose other than shock.
In addition to all of the above, the book to me ends with a number of loose ends. The author will introduce what seems to be a plot point only to never fulfill its arc. The last chapter of the book was honestly its strongest but even then I found the writing to be lacking.
As for the plot of this book...what plot? To me this book felt like it was cataloguing daily life in a dystopian hellscape which itself lacked verisimilitude. The premise of the book is that humans can no longer consume animal meat due a virus that has apparently been around for several decades but to which there is no cure or any mutations of the virus. This alone seemed unrealistic to me. Then comes the rest of this highly unplausible off which the book is based: that in the absence of animal flesh, people just turn willingly to cannibalizing each other.
Never once did I feel there was an adequate explanation for why cannibalism was normalized other than that people enjoy eating meat. I have a difficult time believing that people as a whole enjoy meat so much that they'd be willing to socially sanction cannibalism in the absence of animal products. I also have a difficult time believing these actions would take place in a age where we have an increasing number of meat substitutes and lab grown meat is a concept that has been teased for years. The lack of compelling reason for cannibalistic activities to take place truly made this book difficult to engage with a serious work rather than as a poorly created piece of satire.
A lot of the writing is explicit and horrific, and for what? Because we *must* eat each other? Again, why? In the absence of a true answer to this question I feel like the graphic, gory scenes in this book exist not to make a comment on society but rather as a form of horror porn. Other elements of this book which gave me this impression included the way sexuality, rape, death, torture, and cannibalism are all mixed up with each other.
Other elements I did not enjoy included overtones of racism, misogyny, and classism. These elements I feel all had the potential to be used in a critical manner but instead just existed for no apparent purpose other than shock.
In addition to all of the above, the book to me ends with a number of loose ends. The author will introduce what seems to be a plot point only to never fulfill its arc. The last chapter of the book was honestly its strongest but even then I found the writing to be lacking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder
Moderate: Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
was going to dnf this at chapter 2 because it disturbed me so deeply but i decided to keep going for the amazing writing. what a talented author but what a disgusting and fucked book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infertility, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Medical content, Abortion, Alcohol
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood
Moderate: Child death, Medical content, Pregnancy
Minor: Rape, Slavery, Death of parent
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Slavery, Blood, Cannibalism
challenging
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Too slow & graphic. DNF at about 75% mark.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a horrifying book. I both didn't want to pick it back up to finish but also wanted to finish it so I could move onto something less disturbing. This book is well done which makes it all the more awful. I made the mistake of starting it as I sat down to dinner (not something I recommend).
In my opinion, once the world is established, Tender is the Flesh is fairly predictable. But I don't think that especially matters since the plot and characters are simply devices through which the reader explores this dystopian world. The world and it's small details are what matter, not the "plot."
Most of the book is a gruesome exploration of a possibility. This book may be speculative fiction, but it isn't unrealistic.
Time to go read something fluffy.
In my opinion, once the world is established, Tender is the Flesh is fairly predictable. But I don't think that especially matters since the plot and characters are simply devices through which the reader explores this dystopian world. The world and it's small details are what matter, not the "plot."
Most of the book is a gruesome exploration of a possibility. This book may be speculative fiction, but it isn't unrealistic.
Time to go read something fluffy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Classism