Tender Is the Flesh
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.
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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Community Reviews
This was a fantastic book! There were a couple bits that felt slow, but overall truly a psychological masterpiece.
No character development. No real characters at all, come to think of it - just surface level details. Very tell donât show. Thereâs surprisingly little action in this book even with the relentless violence. And the violence doesnât really serve a greater ideological purpose - itâs just trying to be gruesome, like a B-rated slasher flick.
Each time I thought it couldn't get worse, Bazterrica took it another step farther. I was captivated by the matter of fact narration that led us along the disturbing tale of grief and potential for violence.
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