Review by sheonceread - Tender Is the Flesh

sheonceread 's review for:

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

3.75

challenging dark informative sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

"After all, since the world began, we've been eating each other. If not symbolically, then we've been literally gorging on each other.
The Transition has enabled us to be less hypocritical."

a haunting, disgusting book. i hated everything about it, and i hated myself for being so enthralled by it that i finished it almost as immediately as i started it. it’s an important and relevant commentary on what propaganda and blind trust towards rumors and the government can do to society. this is by far the craziest premise i’ve ever known but the story didn’t live up to it. there are so much that it could have been but in the end im left with a “ok.. what now” feeling. is the ending meant to signify how humanity is indeed depraved and there’s no saving us? what is it truly trying to say?

i wish instead of focusing on the gore and the process of how the meat is being produced, the story could’ve dive more into the how and why of this world’s reality. what does it do to the ecosystem now that animals are gone? how many years did the Transition took place? was overpopulation Really that bad that the govt had to make up this may or may not be propaganda? i didnt need to learn how the humans are being processed as livestock to understand how horrifying it is, but alas we have a BUNCH of chapters walking us through that.

moreover, i hated everything about Marcos. his ass was a depressed, angry, miserable contrarian the whole time just for him to end up doing alladat.

like wdym you spent the whole book being all holier than thou about hating the whole Transition, being disgusted by his job, etc just for him to r word a woman, impregnates her, cages her the whole duration of pregnancy albeit treating her “humanely” and not even letting her hold her son after she gave birth???? and cecilia saying “whyd you kill her she could’ve produced us more babies girl shut the fawk up??I HATED THIS even though i know it’s to show that even Marcos himself is depraved and a product of this world no matter how different he is from most.

i do however really like the thought exercise this gave me, a lot of thinking will go into this one and i haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since i finished. this one sticks with you. it also reminded me that in any state of dystopia, it will always be women who suffers the most.

Content Warnings