Review: Tender Is the Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica

Title: Tender Is the Flesh

Author: Agustina Bazterrica

Publisher: Scribner

Genre: Horror / Dystopia

Date of Publication: August 4th, 2020 (or. published Nov. 29th, 2017)

Number of Pages: 209

See it on Goodreads: Tender Is the Flesh

Summary

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.

Review - Let It Consume You

Keeping up with my horror TBR, the next book I decided to read was Tender Is the Flesh after The Eyes Are the Best Part. As I mentioned in that book's review, its writing felt a bit juvenile, a thing that was highlighted once I'd begun reading another horror book. Of course, I was refering to Tender Is the Flesh. Plus, with this book, I would also work on my Reading Around the World challenge, which I've started earlier this year. If you are also doing a similar challenge, take note that it is an Argentian novel. 

Since I've briefly touched on its writing, let me start by saying how wonderfully written this book is! Agustina Bazterrica's writing grabbed my full attention since the opening paragraph of Tender Is the Flesh. But, I would also like to underline the work Sarah Moses, the translator of this book. If you've read it in Spanish, feel free to let me know what you thought of its prose. 

Tender Is the Flesh isn't a book for the feeble. It takes us to a dystopian future (which might very well be not so distant), where a virus has affected animals, making them fatal to humans. A small scratch from a pet or consuming meat are enough to infect a person with an incurable disease. Once the iniatial hysteria has settled, governments decided to make cannibalism legal. However, humans meant for consumption are separately grown for that purpose. 

This setup is enough to make the book truly horrifying. Marcos, our protagonist, works is a processing plant. Through his eyes, we see the whole process, from conception to slaughter. The book gives you all the horrifying details, and most importantly, the length that humans will go to justify their decision to continue consuming meat. It was interesting to hear all the jargon they invented to talk about the "special mean" to hide the fact that it's actually humans they are growing. 

Things get more complicated for Marcos, when he receives a female as a gift. This puts an extreme pressure on him, as for most of the book, he acts as the voice of reason. He calls what is happening by its name, and tries to avoid consuming the "special meat". With a little affection, Jasmine as he calls her, discovers aspects of being raised and treated as a human. When that ending arrived, we finally see how deeply that propaganda seeped in. (but I won't spoil it for you).

Having mentioned the ending, I have to say that it came to a point where I was losing interest in the book. It's not that I didn't like it - I still enjoyed the prose, and the story went in a very interesting direction. I just felt that it the second part could be more intense. Yet, the last couple of pages landed a much-needed punch.

All in all, Tender Is the Flesh is one of the books that are worth every praise they get. Well-written and horrifying, it is a novel that will chill you to the bone. It touches on serious topics, including consumerism and government propaganda, which add a whole new layer to the story. If you know what you are getting into, this is a book that will consume you (in a good way, I hope).

Read more of my reviews here.