A review by ed_moore
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Bazzterrica’s ‘Tender is the Flesh’ really leaves me conflicted on the opinions of the book, I certainly did not enjoy it, far from it, though it wasn’t at all bad. A dystopia where animal meat is diseased and inedible so the population turns to systematic cannibalism is just a theme that cannot be an enjoyable reading experience. Every single chapter was uncomfortable, the themes, descriptions of murder and consumption of humans with no remorse, care or ability to see the murder victims as human, but alike to the animals slaughtered in todays meat industry, was harrowing. It was the most unpleasant reading experience I have ever had. 
 
In substituting the animals of the meat industry for humans it was an extremely strong argument for veganism, and made me feel utterly sick every single chapter, and that is as a person who extremely rarely eats meat, never choosing to cook it myself and only having it when served to me by somebody else. The world building in the book was both incredible and utterly harrowing, but the theme was the only real standout element when it came to the writing itself. 
 
The whole book was written in an extremely blunt and to the point tone, almost like a list of events in the protagonist Marcos’ life and long list features to contribute to world building. While I recognise this could reflect the lack of remorse towards the consumption of humans and is a clever technique in such regards, it also came across as extremely bland and sloppy writing. The characters were also all quite flat, once again all awful people and one dimensional possibly for the focus on how little remorse existed in the dystopian universe, but also again uninteresting writing. 
 
‘Tender is the Flesh’ was eye-opening and so uncomfortable with a really interesting, impactful and harrowing premise, but aside from such was not the greatest in a stylistic or plot perspective (the plot also felt very lacking and only focused on world building, new elements of the human processing plant and universe being introduced in the second to penultimate chapter). This is book where the trigger warnings are a must, as it is the most uncomfy book I have ever read, is far from enjoyable, yet absolutely worth considering reading. 
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