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A review by fromthefoxhole
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
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.
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
Graphic: Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Child death, Body horror, Violence, Mental illness, Grief, Cursing, Cannibalism, Slavery, Death, and Confinement
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Animal death, Terminal illness, and Excrement