[REVIEW] Tender Is the Flesh

title: Tender Is the Flesh

author: Agustina Bazterrica, Sarah Moses (Translator)

genre: adult, horror
published: February 6th 2020 by Pushkin Press
my copy: kindle, 166 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4.5 / 5 stars
goodreads

Everyone's eating human meat. Would you? A vivid, shocking dystopian novel from an Argentinian rising star 

'This book will pull you in, take hold, and not let go until you reach the final page – perhaps far longer than that. Without a doubt, my favourite read of this year' Christina Dalcher, author of VOX 

It all happened so quickly. First, animals became infected with the virus and their meat became poisonous. Then governments initiated the Transition. Now, 'special meat' – human meat – is legal. 

Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans – only no one calls them that. He works with numbers, consignments, processing. One day, he's given a gift to seal a deal: a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her in his barn, tied up, a problem to be disposed of later. 

But the specimen haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, her eyes that watch him, that seem to understand. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost – and what might still be saved…

it's not for everyone but if you're intrigued and you think you can take it, I'd say go for it.

When this book came to my radar, it's easily a must read for me! 

Tender Is the Flesh is set in a world where a mysterious virus infected animals to the point they've become poisonous. This situation pushed the government to legalize the consumption of human meat. The novel follows Marcos Tejo who works in a processing plant which involves closely seeing the entire business from breeding to slaughtering to other various things the "special meats" go to.

This is a really horrifying book that focuses on a world that consumes human meat. This is certainly a book I won't recommend to everyone unless you think you can take on the horrifying world that is in this book. This book centers on slaughtering and consuming human meat and then some more such as (idk if spoilers but it's really part of the experience reading them I guess? but just triggering things maybe): (1) literally treating humans as animals, (2) prostitution/human trafficking (then eating them if your wish), (3) hunting humans (then consuming them of course), and (4) experimenting on humans.

Aside from the cannibalistic things this book offers, this book also tries to take on a few things I find interesting: the morality of consuming and treating the "heads" (or humans bred for consumption) -- but really now there's only one stand here but just imagine the horror of this--, and the influence of capitalists, media, and the government to the masses. This is one of those books that I wish I read with someone but alas, my bestfriend or my sister doesn't have a copy so I had to read it alone and my thoughts just pile in my head and put quick reactions on my Kindle notes.

It's a short book but the world building was really good. There's absolutely no info dump. Everything was given smoothly and I was really intrigued with everything. Marcos is also in a pretty good position to really show the world and his contrast to it is a really good read. There's really more to the story than just the world itself since there's also the gift (aka the pure bred "head") that Marcos received (not spoiler, it's in the synopsis) and the case of Marcos's father which is a nice part of the story and also develops Marcos's background.

OVERALL, Tender is the Flesh is not for everyone but if you're intrigued and you think you can take it, I'd say go for it. It's such a horrifying (graphic?) and unforgettable worthwhile dystopian book about a world that literally legalized cannibalism (I doubt such a world would happen but at this point who knows 👀)

ohdamn. i had a hard time writing this review/thoughts just because my head got stuck with, "oh heck that was w h o a." and i can't form words. but thank the starts i got it. lmao. 

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