'The novel is horrific, yes, but fascinatingly provocative (and Orwellian) in the way it exposes the lengths society will go to deform language and avoid moral truths.'

“From the first words of the Argentine novelist Agustina Bazterrica’s second novel, Tender Is the Flesh, the reader is already the livestock in the line, reeling, primordially aware that this book is a butcher’s block, and nothing that happens next is going to be pretty.” WINNER OF ARGENTINA’S CLARÍN NOVELA PRIZE 2017 read more reviews here.PRAISE FOR TENDER IS THE FLESH BY AGUSTINA BAZTERRICA Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Part of me would like another story in which we address that this was a government ploy to curb population, but, for the short story it was- this was an amazing, stomach-churning story. And, how likely that would be given the circumstances. That it could so easily be convinced by large meat companies to cave into the change of laws and allows for eating human meat.

It also addresses how corrupt our government is. This book opened up interesting conversations with friends and family, who easily say “well I would just go vegan”, which makes my vegan friends ask, “Then why aren’t you now?”. My original review of this book was literally, “what the fuck”, and I stand by that as the ending truly made me feel that way. However, by the end of the book, those feelings drastically change. This makes him feel more like what you would think of yourself in this situation and makes the character more likable. In the book, the main character seemingly separates himself from society in that he doesn’t want to cave into needing the “special meat”. Additionally, the world-building was truly part of the horror experience, and I think that that really assisted in making one squeamish while reading. There was a lot of description needed for us to understand how our government would approve of such a thing, but the way it was put in the story made sense. Marcos, our main character, works for a meat processing plant and does his best not to let it take away his humanity.Īgustina Bazterrica does an amazing job of world-building in what one would consider a short standalone book. Oh, and, no big deal but, eating human meat is legal now. His wife has left him after his son has passed away, and, his father is slipping into dementia while his sister seemingly doesn’t care. In this book, we follow our main character as his personal life is falling apart and society is slipping into madness. In Tender is the Flesh, all animals are dead, and we farm humans for meat. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica is a horror that addresses raw human nature.

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