A review by lovinoia
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

With such an intriguing title, I so, so badly wanted this to be an interesting book. 'Tender is the Flesh' is a story set in a dystopian world where people have resorted to eating other people for meat, due to a virus that has rendered animals inedible. 

The entire length of the book felt as though it was reaching something, but wasn't quite there yet. In fact, the whole book at times felt like a loosely related collections of the author's grievances with the meat industry, and at times just whichever character she didn't like. There were many parts which felt needlessly gory, that didn't add to the story at all, and felt more like a PETA campaign than anything. 

Overall, I'm disappointed. There are definitely parts of the book that shine as lucid pieces of what could've been a very interesting puzzle, but as a whole the book was pretty meh. 
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