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A review by hollyp20
Easy Meat by Rachel Trezise
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Overshadowed in the time of a global pandemic, Rachel Trezise brings Brexit again into the forefront of people’s minds in this unreservedly grim novella that hammers home the bleakness of working-class Wales, providing us with an explanation as to what compelled a country to dive head-first into the unfamiliar and choose ‘Leave’.
As the author of In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, Trezise now writes from the perspective of Caleb, a man who once had everything – success and fame, peak physical fitness and a family of his own. With these accomplishments now mere memories, Caleb’s existence is rather hopeless, yet vital to his parents who rely on him to provide for the family because they have gone bankrupt. His mundane and monotonous life is contrasted with the savagery and disquiet nature of the slaughterhouse in which he works, day in, day out, as an outsider to his colleagues. As a man on the edge of not only his boning knife, Caleb wants change and nurses his individual dissatisfaction by utilising the politics available to him and on the 23rd of June 2016 in South Wales – when the book is set – that just so happens to be the EU referendum. For Trezise’s protagonist, to leave the EU ‘meant something had to change’ and all he has to do is put ‘a graphite cross into the box’. Whether this is to his detriment or not, Caleb does not care.
The book explores this concept microcosmically through the character of Savannah when she communicates to Caleb her reason for self-harming. She says, ‘I felt helpless. It made me feel better, like I had some control over something’ – Savannah’s self-harm is an act of self-destruction for the sake of feeling in control. Can this rationale not be applied to the ‘vote leave’ side of the Brexit debate? Even though it is possibly harmful to vote leave, the promise that it will bring change and give more power to the UK triumphs the plethora of disadvantages that it could possibly create. What is most prolific about the Savannah metaphor is that even though she claims that she is okay now, ‘the raised bumps of scar tissue’ still remain on her forearm.
Trezise has lived in Wales all her life and is, therefore, able to give a first-hand experience of Brexit from the Welsh perspective, a viewpoint often forgotten or left out of political narratives. As the first ever winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, the author harnesses her remarkably distinctive writing style once again to confront this political issue and cause the reader to experience the anxieties surrounding it. Tensions are at their highest in the slaughterhouse, with Caleb’s slicing and sawing intertwining with recollections of his traumatic past and present frustration, which makes for an unsettling read in which you realise you have not taken a breath for a page or two. Yes, the story is politically inclined, but in no way is Easy Meat ever dull as Trezise takes the saying ‘like a lamb to the slaughter’, and gives it a whole new meaning.
As the author of In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, Trezise now writes from the perspective of Caleb, a man who once had everything – success and fame, peak physical fitness and a family of his own. With these accomplishments now mere memories, Caleb’s existence is rather hopeless, yet vital to his parents who rely on him to provide for the family because they have gone bankrupt. His mundane and monotonous life is contrasted with the savagery and disquiet nature of the slaughterhouse in which he works, day in, day out, as an outsider to his colleagues. As a man on the edge of not only his boning knife, Caleb wants change and nurses his individual dissatisfaction by utilising the politics available to him and on the 23rd of June 2016 in South Wales – when the book is set – that just so happens to be the EU referendum. For Trezise’s protagonist, to leave the EU ‘meant something had to change’ and all he has to do is put ‘a graphite cross into the box’. Whether this is to his detriment or not, Caleb does not care.
The book explores this concept microcosmically through the character of Savannah when she communicates to Caleb her reason for self-harming. She says, ‘I felt helpless. It made me feel better, like I had some control over something’ – Savannah’s self-harm is an act of self-destruction for the sake of feeling in control. Can this rationale not be applied to the ‘vote leave’ side of the Brexit debate? Even though it is possibly harmful to vote leave, the promise that it will bring change and give more power to the UK triumphs the plethora of disadvantages that it could possibly create. What is most prolific about the Savannah metaphor is that even though she claims that she is okay now, ‘the raised bumps of scar tissue’ still remain on her forearm.
Trezise has lived in Wales all her life and is, therefore, able to give a first-hand experience of Brexit from the Welsh perspective, a viewpoint often forgotten or left out of political narratives. As the first ever winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, the author harnesses her remarkably distinctive writing style once again to confront this political issue and cause the reader to experience the anxieties surrounding it. Tensions are at their highest in the slaughterhouse, with Caleb’s slicing and sawing intertwining with recollections of his traumatic past and present frustration, which makes for an unsettling read in which you realise you have not taken a breath for a page or two. Yes, the story is politically inclined, but in no way is Easy Meat ever dull as Trezise takes the saying ‘like a lamb to the slaughter’, and gives it a whole new meaning.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm