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A review by olenvasynyt
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
5.0
9/10. This book is gory, monstrous and horrific as was expected, but the thing that truly pulled me in and refused to let go was the incredible writing style. Some may find this style of writing too cold, or too choppy, but it is written like this on purpose.
Blunt, cynical, dismissive, the author writes short and abrupt sentences that really describe the protagonist’s view on this sort of society. Jaw-dropping, stomach-curling sentences are followed by mundane details like white shoes and malfunctioning phones. Nearly every page is littered with symbols and hidden meaning, one of the most important being the fact that the protagonist is almost exclusively referred to as “he”. Never his name. We know his name, but he is very rarely referred by it. This technique shows how the protagonist wants to detach himself from the world he lives in, but it also tricks the reader into reading this book from a first person perspective. That “he” is humanity, and we are him.
Overall, this book voices themes of humanity and our hidden nature, and the excuses we make to live with ourselves. In the end, we are just “domesticated animals”: sad, beautiful, bloodthirsty creatures barely any different from wild animals, with only a few key differences that make us different. Is it sadism? Is it selfishness and control? Or is it the society that we created for ourselves?
I will end this with one of my favorite quotes from this book:
“He looks at the fangs, the hunger, the fury. They’re beautiful, he thinks. He doesn’t want to hurt them.”
Blunt, cynical, dismissive, the author writes short and abrupt sentences that really describe the protagonist’s view on this sort of society. Jaw-dropping, stomach-curling sentences are followed by mundane details like white shoes and malfunctioning phones. Nearly every page is littered with symbols and hidden meaning, one of the most important being the fact that the protagonist is almost exclusively referred to as “he”. Never his name. We know his name, but he is very rarely referred by it. This technique shows how the protagonist wants to detach himself from the world he lives in, but it also tricks the reader into reading this book from a first person perspective. That “he” is humanity, and we are him.
Overall, this book voices themes of humanity and our hidden nature, and the excuses we make to live with ourselves. In the end, we are just “domesticated animals”: sad, beautiful, bloodthirsty creatures barely any different from wild animals, with only a few key differences that make us different. Is it sadism? Is it selfishness and control? Or is it the society that we created for ourselves?
I will end this with one of my favorite quotes from this book:
“He looks at the fangs, the hunger, the fury. They’re beautiful, he thinks. He doesn’t want to hurt them.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Murder