Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Tender is the Flesh

I wonder what eugenics happened before this book that led to the deciding of what humans became the specimen. I understand why this point in the story was picked, as the normalization of eating humans lends to the unsettling feeling while reading, but I found myself a little more interested in the processes of how we got to this point in the world. That might sound weird or morbid, but I want to see what drew people to deciding THIS process and THESE people.

The writing of this book was a little unnerving and it worked perfectly with the book. Despite the book being written in third person, the narration rarely said his name, only tending to refer to him as “he”. I don’t know if this was a product of the translation, but I think it worked well. The other distinct writing piece in this book was the personification of words. I thought it was interesting, but I’ve not seen a lot of it before, so it was something I noticed when it happened.

Another small aspect of the book I wish was expanded on more was the idea that the virus was a government conspiracy. It’s really made out to be ambiguous as to whether or not the virus was legitimate, but there seemed to be more proof against it being real.

The very end of this book seemed a little abrupt and like it took a 180 from where the book was heading. It was disconcerting and I can’t tell if it makes everything make sense or if it makes everything make less sense. I was looking back to all the main character’s actions and motivations to see if it tracks or not. I’m still not sure where I stand with this.

I think some criticisms of this book mention it being a little boring, as it’s more slice of life and not really plot-driven and, while I agree to a certain extent, I think it adds to the story. There are some things I wish I had more context to outside of this character knowing, but this story is a full story as itself and I understood why the storyline was what it was.

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fromthefoxhole's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

oh my stomach hurts, but god it was so good. a mess of trigger warnings apply here, please heed that !!

from the very first chapter, this book had me oscillating between voracious interest and making sure I had a trash can nearby in case I needed to vomit, which I think is a testament to how well written it is.

Marcos, our main character, is a very broken man, surrounded by death, in both his professional and personal lives. Working in a meat processing plant is already a somewhat gruesome process, but it's made infinitely worse when a virus makes eating animals impossible, and the government shifts to "special meat", aka humans bred specifically for consumption. Marcos finds himself on a precipice - on the one hand, he does still find this work morally wrong, and is frustrated by the dehumanizing language surrounding the whole affair. On the other hand, it's all he's ever known.

There are so many passages where I briefly forgot the crux of the story, and would be yanked back to the truth so forcefully that I felt like I was developing whiplash. The ending, especially, broke my brain so severely that I just sat in silence for a few hours, trying to process everything I had just read. Absolutely a five star read, but I never plan to revisit it lol.

Content Warnings