You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kpharoah 's review for:
Tender Is the Flesh
by Agustina Bazterrica
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
(Beware all of the trigger warnings in this one folks. It's dark.)
Tender is the Flesh is a hard one to review. Its premise and plot are really heavy, not something I could really devour (pun intended) and one I had to keep putting down and reading something light and fluffy alongside to take the bad taste out of my mouth. It's thought provoking - how we desensationalize eating meat even though to eat it is to essentially slaughter a life, what would drive people to cannabalism, and how even caste and economic value plays into our roles in society.
(It didn't help that while reading this I ate steak and some pork ribs either. But that definitely made me think!)
But God it was just shock factor after shock factor. I felt sick multiple times reading this oneespecially after that puppy scene But after awhile, the constant need to up the shock factor got boring.
I would have liked some elements to be further explored - I know the concept of whether it was all a governmental hoax was left deliberately vague but I would've liked the repercussions of that to be more detailed, the concept of vegetarianism and veganism was swept under the rug too quickly, and the group of Savages who hunted for meat were sort of just left there without much detail or conclusion.
All the characters are despicable, which is the point but I thought we were getting character growth and that all got squashed with the rushed ending. With the ending, I literally went 'is that it?' and whilst I should've known the main character wouldn't have changed and was just like everyone else, I wished his motives were explained a bit more in the moment.
All in all, cannabalism is best in small doses. Tender is the Flesh is super dark, exploring the worse facets of human nature and the meat trade. I just wished it was executed a bit better, with details more explained.
Tender is the Flesh is a hard one to review. Its premise and plot are really heavy, not something I could really devour (pun intended) and one I had to keep putting down and reading something light and fluffy alongside to take the bad taste out of my mouth. It's thought provoking - how we desensationalize eating meat even though to eat it is to essentially slaughter a life, what would drive people to cannabalism, and how even caste and economic value plays into our roles in society.
(It didn't help that while reading this I ate steak and some pork ribs either. But that definitely made me think!)
But God it was just shock factor after shock factor. I felt sick multiple times reading this one
I would have liked some elements to be further explored - I know the concept of whether it was all a governmental hoax was left deliberately vague but I would've liked the repercussions of that to be more detailed, the concept of vegetarianism and veganism was swept under the rug too quickly, and the group of Savages who hunted for meat were sort of just left there without much detail or conclusion.
All the characters are despicable, which is the point but I thought we were getting character growth and that all got squashed with the rushed ending. With the ending, I literally went 'is that it?' and whilst I should've known the main character wouldn't have changed and was just like everyone else, I wished his motives were explained a bit more in the moment.
All in all, cannabalism is best in small doses. Tender is the Flesh is super dark, exploring the worse facets of human nature and the meat trade. I just wished it was executed a bit better, with details more explained.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Classism