Scan barcode
A review by ribbenkast
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I'm not giving this book a low rating because it's gross and gory. I love gross and gory and I've read things more gross and gory than this. I have to commend the book for its effective use of the gore. It wasn't too overly gory just to be shocking, it used the gore effectivly to make its point.
However, the world building is really flimsy. The main story is fine but the whole world falls apart with one single kick to its legs. The premise was great, but the author fails to present the premise as a plausible. There is just no way that if all meat becomes inedible tommorow we'll just switch to human meat. Not because I believe we as humans are incapable of doing the evils described in the book, but for the simple fact that capitalism will find a more profitable and cost effective solution. The story was build on a shaky foundation which made it hard to take the whole book seriously.Whether the virus that killed all the animals or not was real remains a mistery. The explanation given for this to be a 'hoax' is that the goverment wants to solve overpopulation. Again, capitalism will find a more cost effective way.
Furthermore, the author tries so hard to be 'literary'. The book tried to make a point about society at large, but it fell flat. Both me and the author desperedly wanted to have this book have a message beyond: fuck the meat industry. It didn't really.
Maybe it works better in the original Spanish but the author never uses the main characters name to describe him. just 'he'. I get that she probably was trying to make a point about dehumanisation by this, but instead it just made the book read like a bulletpoint list of the main characters day. Also the scenes with multiple men in them (which is almost all) became very confusing to read as it's unclear who's speaking. Also, the desired effect doesn't work if you have other characters clearly adres him by his full name.
The ending though, was perfect. I am glad I finished this book just for the ending.
However, the world building is really flimsy. The main story is fine but the whole world falls apart with one single kick to its legs. The premise was great, but the author fails to present the premise as a plausible. There is just no way that if all meat becomes inedible tommorow we'll just switch to human meat. Not because I believe we as humans are incapable of doing the evils described in the book, but for the simple fact that capitalism will find a more profitable and cost effective solution. The story was build on a shaky foundation which made it hard to take the whole book seriously.
Furthermore, the author tries so hard to be 'literary'. The book tried to make a point about society at large, but it fell flat. Both me and the author desperedly wanted to have this book have a message beyond: fuck the meat industry. It didn't really.
Maybe it works better in the original Spanish but the author never uses the main characters name to describe him. just 'he'. I get that she probably was trying to make a point about dehumanisation by this, but instead it just made the book read like a bulletpoint list of the main characters day. Also the scenes with multiple men in them (which is almost all) became very confusing to read as it's unclear who's speaking. Also, the desired effect doesn't work if you have other characters clearly adres him by his full name.
The ending though, was perfect. I am glad I finished this book just for the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Hate crime, Dementia, Body horror, Slavery, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Violence, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Grief, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Child death, Pregnancy, Blood, Confinement, Torture, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Rape, Medical content, Gore, Death of parent, and Death