A review by maakbooks
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

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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