Tender Is the Flesh

THE RUNAWAY NATIONAL BESTSELLER AND INTERNATIONAL SENSATION

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 gift: 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.

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Published Aug 4, 2020

224 pages

Average rating: 7.2

1,156 RATINGS

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What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Tender Is the Flesh* by Agustina Bazterrica is a dark, disturbing dystopian novel that chillingly explores human nature and societal crue...

nmimms
Jul 22, 2025
10/10 stars
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.
Annie.S
Jul 01, 2025
7/10 stars
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.
TheCrownJewul
Feb 28, 2026
10/10 stars
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.
sfea
Feb 20, 2026
6/10 stars
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…
Jday
Feb 04, 2026
8/10 stars
Pretty f*cked up. Didn’t expect the ending. Would read again.

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