Cadáver exquisito / Tender is the Flesh (MAPA DE LAS LENGUAS) (Spanish Edition)
PREMIO CLARÍN 2017
En esta despiadada distopía -tan brutal como sutil, tan alegórica como realista-, Agustina Bazterrica inspira, con el poder explosivo de la ficción, sensaciones y debates de suma actualidad.
La súbita aparición de un virus letal que ataca a los animales modifica de manera irreversible el mundo: desde las fieras hasta las mascotas deben ser sistemáticamente sacrificadas, y su carne ya no puede ser consumida. Los gobiernos enfrentan la situación con una decisión drástica: legalizando la cría, reproducción, matanza y procesamiento de carne humana. El canibalismo es ley y la sociedad ha quedado dividida en dos grupos: los que comen y los que son comidos.
Marcos Tejo, encargado general del frigorífico Krieg, separado de su esposa y a cargo de su padre, es un oscuro burócrata. El día en que recibe como regalo una mujer criada para el consumo, las tentaciones lo transforman en una conciencia peligrosa de pliegues truculentos que lo llevará a transgredir las nuevas normas hasta límites que la sociedad desconoce.
¿Qué resto de humanidad cabe cuando los muertos son cremados para evitar su consumo? ¿Quién es el otro si, de verdad, somos lo que comemos?
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
The electrifying, award-winning, internationally bestselling novel about a dystopian world in which animals have been wiped out, humans are being harvested for food, and society has been divided into those who eat and those who are eaten.
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 about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that animals had been infected with a virus and their meat had become poisonous. Then governments initiated the Transition. Now, human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.
Then one day he’s given a gift: a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her in his barn, tied up, a problem to be disposed of later. But she haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, her watchful, knowing eyes. 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.
From Agustina Bazterrica, one of Latin America’s most celebrated and original new voices, Tender Is the Flesh is propulsive and profound, a searing cautionary tale about the cost of consumption and the ties that bind and break us.
En esta despiadada distopía -tan brutal como sutil, tan alegórica como realista-, Agustina Bazterrica inspira, con el poder explosivo de la ficción, sensaciones y debates de suma actualidad.
La súbita aparición de un virus letal que ataca a los animales modifica de manera irreversible el mundo: desde las fieras hasta las mascotas deben ser sistemáticamente sacrificadas, y su carne ya no puede ser consumida. Los gobiernos enfrentan la situación con una decisión drástica: legalizando la cría, reproducción, matanza y procesamiento de carne humana. El canibalismo es ley y la sociedad ha quedado dividida en dos grupos: los que comen y los que son comidos.
Marcos Tejo, encargado general del frigorífico Krieg, separado de su esposa y a cargo de su padre, es un oscuro burócrata. El día en que recibe como regalo una mujer criada para el consumo, las tentaciones lo transforman en una conciencia peligrosa de pliegues truculentos que lo llevará a transgredir las nuevas normas hasta límites que la sociedad desconoce.
¿Qué resto de humanidad cabe cuando los muertos son cremados para evitar su consumo? ¿Quién es el otro si, de verdad, somos lo que comemos?
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
The electrifying, award-winning, internationally bestselling novel about a dystopian world in which animals have been wiped out, humans are being harvested for food, and society has been divided into those who eat and those who are eaten.
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 about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that animals had been infected with a virus and their meat had become poisonous. Then governments initiated the Transition. Now, human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.
Then one day he’s given a gift: a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her in his barn, tied up, a problem to be disposed of later. But she haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, her watchful, knowing eyes. 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.
From Agustina Bazterrica, one of Latin America’s most celebrated and original new voices, Tender Is the Flesh is propulsive and profound, a searing cautionary tale about the cost of consumption and the ties that bind and break us.
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Community Reviews
The best book that I will never read again.
I genuinely enjoyed the narrative but it took some WORK to get past the setting. If you can roll with the spirit of the novel then you get to see a fantastic break down of grief from a male perspective. It resonated with me in that way.
But it also put me off meat for about a week.
This book was so different than anything I have ever read. I enjoyed the comparisons that could be made to so many things about our indifference as human beings. At times it was hard to stomach but I understood that was intentional.
While technically well-written and visceral, I ultimately found it to be lacking in anything far enough removed from the very historical events it was (barely) satirizing (such as slavery, sex trafficking, Unit 731, et cetera) to be of interest because I found it too predictable. It made for a good discussion, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
I love this book! It really makes you think about how the world would be if we turned into cannibals socially. The ending... WOW! It is a disturbing read but worth it.
this was the strangest book i’ve read in a long time. it took me almost two months to finish this (mind you, it’s a short read and i’m an active reader) because it was difficult to get through the first the first 100 pages. i understand this book is translated from spanish, but the short sentences made me feel like i was back in 2nd grade. there was no character development. it was also extremely graphic, if you are a die hard carnivore, i wouldn’t recommend this book. it was just hard to stomach. overall, just not a great book which is disappointing cause i’ve heard great things about it…
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