A review by thedinosaurkid
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I've seen around the internet that this book is truly disturbing and I completely agree. Its been one of the few books that have made me truly disgusted at what is occurring.
Especially during the tour of the plant during the job interview; the part where the pregnant "head" was revealed to have had all of her limbs cut off so she couldn't try to kill her baby was just so viscerally horrific.

One of the parts of this book that made it truly horrible (in the good horror book way) was that the author set everything up in a way that is completely understandable how it got there. Not in a "oh yeah that's how we should go" way but in a "oh my god the world is just evil enough that if this happened this is how it would go down" way. The way society is makes it completely plausible that we'd turn to cannibalism, make factories/plants for genetically modified humans made for eating,
and even have rich freaks who'd hunt humans for fun
.
The main thing that knocked my review to a three is that it didn't live up to my expectations, which is mainly a me issue. I've seen so many reviews of this book that I expected it to deliver more than it does. Which is not a diss to the book, I just built up false expectations. 
One thing within the book that made me not like it as much was the scene with Spanel. I don't know why it was included and it was just so uncomfortable. However, my dislike/discomfort with this scene might be my own lack of understanding when it comes to the purpose/symbolism of sex scenes/sex in general in horror books.

Overall a great read, especially with the current state of the world. It does an amazing job at setting up the world and how it responded to this situation. Its message regarding bodily autonomy and humanity are really important in the age of conservative abortion politics.
One of the sentiments that was repeated that stuck out to me was how no one wants to eat "meat with a first and last name". Its a great way to show how far people with go once they stop seeing someone as human, as a person with a name.
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