Of Cattle and Men

By the International Booker Prize Longlisted Author of On Earth As It Is Beneath

Animals go mad and men die (accidentally and not) at a slaughterhouse in an impoverished, isolated corner of Brazil.In a landscape worthy of Cormac McCarthy, the river runs septic with blood. Edgar Wilson makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of a cow, then stuns it with a mallet. He does this over and over again, as the stun operator at Senhor Milo's slaughterhouse: reliable, responsible, quietly dispatching cows and following orders, wherever that may take him. It's important to calm the cows, especially now that they seem so unsettled: they have begun to run in panic into walls and over cliffs. Bronco Gil, the foreman, thinks it's a jaguar or a wild boar. Edgar Wilson has other suspicions. But what is certain is that there is something in this desolate corner of Brazil driving men, and animals, to murder and madness.

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Published Apr 11, 2023

99 pages

Average rating: 8.67

3 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Casey O
Apr 20, 2026
8/10 stars
disgusting
a c
Nov 18, 2024
8/10 stars
Simplistic prose, but the thematic notions were quite multilayered. I won't say the visualization of the landscape factor is mind-blowing, but it fit the scope of the novella quite beautifully. 4/5 stars.
Hartfullofbooks
Dec 31, 2023
10/10 stars
A dark and visceral look at the meat industry through the perspective of a man working in a slaughterhouse as the stun operator. Edgar has compassion for the animals he slaughters and shines a light on the inhumanity of slaughtering animals so the masses can ingest it guilt free with little to no understanding of what must be done to make that burger. As we’ve become more civilized we’ve become more barbaric, and that is shown here in this novel. I’ve been a vegetarian for 20 years and this novel touched on a lot of issues with the meat industry and our current society that I feel everyone should be aware of. Edgar was an excellent narrator for this tale because you see a man that’s good at his job despite his compassion towards the animals and goes above and beyond to ensure they’re treated respectfully even in the stun box. There is so much to say about this novel and its themes and I think it’s one definitely worth a read.

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