Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Scribner (2020), 224 pages
Description
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.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member susanbooks
A premise without a plot. The world-building is careful and precise. (Anyone who says it's unbelievable hasn't been paying attention to the socio-politico-economic conditions and behaviors of our species in the last fifty years.) But this is a short book, a little over 200 pages: once Bazterrica is
Many reviewers call novels like this fables. I call them unsatisfying; if I wanted a fable, I'd turn to Aesop. I look for more from novels, more depth, more care, more thought. If Bazterrica had given herself a hundred more pages she could really have done something here, really explored our callousness, our economic feudalism, our culture's erotic fascination with mortal violence against women. Instead she gestures toward them, then ties everything up like a shaggy dog story. At the end I felt like the joke was on me: hah! You expected a thoughtful novel and you got the literary version of Hostel.
Because the novel does feel like literary slasher fiction it's hard to excuse the overwhelming and detailed violence focused on young women here. Is she making a feminist critique or just luxuriating in gynophobic fantasies? It seems the book could be read powerfully from either point of view.
If you've read Carol J. Adams' "The Sexual Politics of Meat," all makes sense here. If you haven't, take a look at it. But that's Adams' book and Bazterrica needs to do some work in her own book.
I kept thinking about Nini Holmqvist's novel "The Unit" as I read this. "The Unit" also takes place in a society that takes horrifyingly practical steps to mitigate surplus population. But "The Unit" also has fully realized characters and a plot so you really care what happens in its magnificently detailed world.
So read "The Unit," and if you have the time and stomach (hah!) for a book in which someone casually says, "He raped her to death" (61), then, sure, give "Tender is the Flesh" a try.
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done with the world-building, she's done with the novel, so we never really get to know our protagonist, who becomes an Everyman with vague motivations and desires.Many reviewers call novels like this fables. I call them unsatisfying; if I wanted a fable, I'd turn to Aesop. I look for more from novels, more depth, more care, more thought. If Bazterrica had given herself a hundred more pages she could really have done something here, really explored our callousness, our economic feudalism, our culture's erotic fascination with mortal violence against women. Instead she gestures toward them, then ties everything up like a shaggy dog story. At the end I felt like the joke was on me: hah! You expected a thoughtful novel and you got the literary version of Hostel.
Because the novel does feel like literary slasher fiction it's hard to excuse the overwhelming and detailed violence focused on young women here. Is she making a feminist critique or just luxuriating in gynophobic fantasies? It seems the book could be read powerfully from either point of view.
If you've read Carol J. Adams' "The Sexual Politics of Meat," all makes sense here. If you haven't, take a look at it. But that's Adams' book and Bazterrica needs to do some work in her own book.
I kept thinking about Nini Holmqvist's novel "The Unit" as I read this. "The Unit" also takes place in a society that takes horrifyingly practical steps to mitigate surplus population. But "The Unit" also has fully realized characters and a plot so you really care what happens in its magnificently detailed world.
So read "The Unit," and if you have the time and stomach (hah!) for a book in which someone casually says, "He raped her to death" (61), then, sure, give "Tender is the Flesh" a try.
Show Less
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
So, hey, there's this book and it's about this guy named Marcos, who works for a slaughterhouse, as the second-in-command, doing all the meetings and employee-related stuff since his boss is not that great with people. It pays well, which is good because his father's nursing home is expensive. He's
This novel is Marcos, going about his day, visiting butcher shops and suppliers, giving tours to new employees, and feeling not that enthusiastic about any of it. In fact, Marcos is feeling very judgmental about everyone, from his co-workers to the suppliers and customers he's supposed to be smoozing. And that's what this novel is, mostly. Marcos walks a pair of job applicants through the slaughterhouse, carefully describing the process. He visits a butcher shop, where he bangs the butcher and also describes what the butcher does, how she cuts the limbs and torsos and heads she receives from his slaughterhouse into cutlets and chops. He visits a customer, who shows off his hunting lodge, which has switched over to a Greatest Game sort of scenario, and discusses with him which specific kinds of people his clientele like to hunt and Marcos stays to lunch. Marcos visits a laboratory where experiments are run using people and even though he has been there many times, he is still taken on an exhaustive tour.
So this is pretty much a book about this world Bazterrica has dreamed up and all of the details of that world. The characterization is minimal, as is the plot, but those are not the point of this book. This is a sermon, of fire and brimstone and slippery slopes. It was not the book for me, not for the eating people thing, but because this book felt more like someone making a point than it did a novel.
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married, but his wife isn't living with him as they both deal with the sorrow over the death of their daughter. Oh, and the world has changed a little -- a mysterious virus rendered all animal meat poisonous to humans and so they switched to eating people. First poor people, but now humans are being raised for meat, it's a whole thing. This novel is Marcos, going about his day, visiting butcher shops and suppliers, giving tours to new employees, and feeling not that enthusiastic about any of it. In fact, Marcos is feeling very judgmental about everyone, from his co-workers to the suppliers and customers he's supposed to be smoozing. And that's what this novel is, mostly. Marcos walks a pair of job applicants through the slaughterhouse, carefully describing the process. He visits a butcher shop, where he bangs the butcher and also describes what the butcher does, how she cuts the limbs and torsos and heads she receives from his slaughterhouse into cutlets and chops. He visits a customer, who shows off his hunting lodge, which has switched over to a Greatest Game sort of scenario, and discusses with him which specific kinds of people his clientele like to hunt and Marcos stays to lunch. Marcos visits a laboratory where experiments are run using people and even though he has been there many times, he is still taken on an exhaustive tour.
So this is pretty much a book about this world Bazterrica has dreamed up and all of the details of that world. The characterization is minimal, as is the plot, but those are not the point of this book. This is a sermon, of fire and brimstone and slippery slopes. It was not the book for me, not for the eating people thing, but because this book felt more like someone making a point than it did a novel.
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LibraryThing member kayanelson
A readable but repulsive book. I can't believe I read it and I can never unread it.
LibraryThing member write-review
Are Humans Capable of Just About Anything?
How you answer that question will probably determine if you will enjoy Tender Is the Flesh (originally published as Cadàver Exquisito). Of course, if history tells us anything, it warns us never to put anything past our fellow humans, at our own peril.
In the future, a virus develops that kills off the animal kingdom and threatens humans as well. Humans respond to this cataclysmic event by breeding members of their own species specifically for consumption. Breeders grow these humans just as they did cattle and other animals, feeding them special diets and pumping them full of antibiotics and hormones to both keep the heads, as they are termed, healthy, succulent, and to quicken growth. Once the act of eating humans becomes accepted, other practices follow, including using some on hunting preserves for the pleasure of hunters and the well to do seeking an adventure. Bazterrica devotes considerable time walking readers through the slaughter process, so be forewarned those faint of heart.
The main character, Marcos Tejo, works in a slaughterhouse. His family once owned an animal abattoir, but with no animals, the business went bust. Marcos, through whom we see this dystopian world, is a disaffected individual. His son died as a young child. His wife, traumatized by the death, left him. And his father, whom he loved, suffers from dementia in a nursing home. Oh, and he has a married sister whom he loathes. Add to this the fact he’s discontented with his job and you have a walking case of depression. This changes when a client presents him with a top-grade female head. At first, Marcos stores her in his barn, but later moves her into his house. And you should be able to guess what follows, though not nearly all of it.
And if you are wondering, yes, you will read about preparation methods and dinner parties where diners enjoy various body parts. Not only might humans adapt to pretty much anything, but, by the lights of Tender Is the Flesh, they will enjoy doing so.
How you answer that question will probably determine if you will enjoy Tender Is the Flesh (originally published as Cadàver Exquisito). Of course, if history tells us anything, it warns us never to put anything past our fellow humans, at our own peril.
Show More
Surely, members of the Donner Party never expected to be eating each other when they set out for Oregon in the 1840s; nor did those on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. Exceptional cases, you say. Cannibalism has been documented throughout human history, and is common in the animal kingdom. So, it’s not beyond the realm of reason that pushed to the wall by lack of meat and general food scarcity, humans might resort to consuming each other. Being communal and organizational by nature, we humans could be expected to transform it into an accepted practice and profitable business. Which is what it is in Bazterrica’s combination dystopian and horror tale, with splashes of fetish eroticism.In the future, a virus develops that kills off the animal kingdom and threatens humans as well. Humans respond to this cataclysmic event by breeding members of their own species specifically for consumption. Breeders grow these humans just as they did cattle and other animals, feeding them special diets and pumping them full of antibiotics and hormones to both keep the heads, as they are termed, healthy, succulent, and to quicken growth. Once the act of eating humans becomes accepted, other practices follow, including using some on hunting preserves for the pleasure of hunters and the well to do seeking an adventure. Bazterrica devotes considerable time walking readers through the slaughter process, so be forewarned those faint of heart.
The main character, Marcos Tejo, works in a slaughterhouse. His family once owned an animal abattoir, but with no animals, the business went bust. Marcos, through whom we see this dystopian world, is a disaffected individual. His son died as a young child. His wife, traumatized by the death, left him. And his father, whom he loved, suffers from dementia in a nursing home. Oh, and he has a married sister whom he loathes. Add to this the fact he’s discontented with his job and you have a walking case of depression. This changes when a client presents him with a top-grade female head. At first, Marcos stores her in his barn, but later moves her into his house. And you should be able to guess what follows, though not nearly all of it.
And if you are wondering, yes, you will read about preparation methods and dinner parties where diners enjoy various body parts. Not only might humans adapt to pretty much anything, but, by the lights of Tender Is the Flesh, they will enjoy doing so.
Show Less
LibraryThing member write-review
Are Humans Capable of Just About Anything?
How you answer that question will probably determine if you will enjoy Tender Is the Flesh (originally published as Cadàver Exquisito). Of course, if history tells us anything, it warns us never to put anything past our fellow humans, at our own peril.
In the future, a virus develops that kills off the animal kingdom and threatens humans as well. Humans respond to this cataclysmic event by breeding members of their own species specifically for consumption. Breeders grow these humans just as they did cattle and other animals, feeding them special diets and pumping them full of antibiotics and hormones to both keep the heads, as they are termed, healthy, succulent, and to quicken growth. Once the act of eating humans becomes accepted, other practices follow, including using some on hunting preserves for the pleasure of hunters and the well to do seeking an adventure. Bazterrica devotes considerable time walking readers through the slaughter process, so be forewarned those faint of heart.
The main character, Marcos Tejo, works in a slaughterhouse. His family once owned an animal abattoir, but with no animals, the business went bust. Marcos, through whom we see this dystopian world, is a disaffected individual. His son died as a young child. His wife, traumatized by the death, left him. And his father, whom he loved, suffers from dementia in a nursing home. Oh, and he has a married sister whom he loathes. Add to this the fact he’s discontented with his job and you have a walking case of depression. This changes when a client presents him with a top-grade female head. At first, Marcos stores her in his barn, but later moves her into his house. And you should be able to guess what follows, though not nearly all of it.
And if you are wondering, yes, you will read about preparation methods and dinner parties where diners enjoy various body parts. Not only might humans adapt to pretty much anything, but, by the lights of Tender Is the Flesh, they will enjoy doing so.
How you answer that question will probably determine if you will enjoy Tender Is the Flesh (originally published as Cadàver Exquisito). Of course, if history tells us anything, it warns us never to put anything past our fellow humans, at our own peril.
Show More
Surely, members of the Donner Party never expected to be eating each other when they set out for Oregon in the 1840s; nor did those on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. Exceptional cases, you say. Cannibalism has been documented throughout human history, and is common in the animal kingdom. So, it’s not beyond the realm of reason that pushed to the wall by lack of meat and general food scarcity, humans might resort to consuming each other. Being communal and organizational by nature, we humans could be expected to transform it into an accepted practice and profitable business. Which is what it is in Bazterrica’s combination dystopian and horror tale, with splashes of fetish eroticism.In the future, a virus develops that kills off the animal kingdom and threatens humans as well. Humans respond to this cataclysmic event by breeding members of their own species specifically for consumption. Breeders grow these humans just as they did cattle and other animals, feeding them special diets and pumping them full of antibiotics and hormones to both keep the heads, as they are termed, healthy, succulent, and to quicken growth. Once the act of eating humans becomes accepted, other practices follow, including using some on hunting preserves for the pleasure of hunters and the well to do seeking an adventure. Bazterrica devotes considerable time walking readers through the slaughter process, so be forewarned those faint of heart.
The main character, Marcos Tejo, works in a slaughterhouse. His family once owned an animal abattoir, but with no animals, the business went bust. Marcos, through whom we see this dystopian world, is a disaffected individual. His son died as a young child. His wife, traumatized by the death, left him. And his father, whom he loved, suffers from dementia in a nursing home. Oh, and he has a married sister whom he loathes. Add to this the fact he’s discontented with his job and you have a walking case of depression. This changes when a client presents him with a top-grade female head. At first, Marcos stores her in his barn, but later moves her into his house. And you should be able to guess what follows, though not nearly all of it.
And if you are wondering, yes, you will read about preparation methods and dinner parties where diners enjoy various body parts. Not only might humans adapt to pretty much anything, but, by the lights of Tender Is the Flesh, they will enjoy doing so.
Show Less
LibraryThing member japaul22
[Tender is the Flesh] by [[Agustina Bazterrica]]
I raced through reading this book and felt as though I were watching a horror movie with my hands over my eyes. The premise is that the world's animals have gotten a virus that makes them deadly to humans, both if eaten and if they have any contact
So why did I read this? Well, a friend of mine loaned it to me as a book that made a big impression on her. To tell the truth there is no other way I would have read this. I suppose it has worth as a polemic against farming, but there wasn't any heart to the story anywhere. And the ending is even more brutal than what I've described so far.
Also, if we really couldn't eat meat any more, I would have zero problem being vegetarian or vegan and feel confident that eating humans is not what I would resort to. The book says doctors were saying that everyone was anemic without meat. There's also a rumor that governments decided there were too many people and the first wave of cannibalism was the poor, refugees, etc. to thin the population. Once that was done they starting breeding and farming humans.
I cannot recommend reading this and will try my best to forget it.
Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: Argentinian
Original language: Spanish
Length: 223 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: borrowed paperback
Why I read this: to try to figure out why my friend liked it
I raced through reading this book and felt as though I were watching a horror movie with my hands over my eyes. The premise is that the world's animals have gotten a virus that makes them deadly to humans, both if eaten and if they have any contact
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with humans at all. So the animals of the world are killed and a sub-class of humans is created that is farmed and butchered like cattle is today. We are told in vivid detail of the process and taste of humans. The main character is the manager of a processing facility. So why did I read this? Well, a friend of mine loaned it to me as a book that made a big impression on her. To tell the truth there is no other way I would have read this. I suppose it has worth as a polemic against farming, but there wasn't any heart to the story anywhere. And the ending is even more brutal than what I've described so far.
Also, if we really couldn't eat meat any more, I would have zero problem being vegetarian or vegan and feel confident that eating humans is not what I would resort to. The book says doctors were saying that everyone was anemic without meat. There's also a rumor that governments decided there were too many people and the first wave of cannibalism was the poor, refugees, etc. to thin the population. Once that was done they starting breeding and farming humans.
I cannot recommend reading this and will try my best to forget it.
Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: Argentinian
Original language: Spanish
Length: 223 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: borrowed paperback
Why I read this: to try to figure out why my friend liked it
Show Less
LibraryThing member Dilara86
A virus has made all non-human animals unfit for consumption. Because apparently, becoming vegetarian is not an option – meat is too addictive – the Argentinian authorities have institutionalised cannibalism. First, with undesirable people (criminals, illegal immigrants…), then through human
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farms. It’s silly and stomach-turning at the same time, and I feel my time could have been better spent than with this novel. The cover's nice, though... Show Less
LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica is speculative fiction about a future in which a virus affects animals making them poisonous to humans. The solution seems pretty easy, stop eating animals, but people, lead by the meat processing industry, think that equates to starvation, so cannibalism
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becomes legal. A side effect is that they become enraged at animals, killing them all because they see no purpose for the existence of animals if they can't be used as food. The narrator is a man in charge of a head processing plant (humans raised for consumption are referred to as heads). He seems to be growing a conscience about his profession. I don't know if Bazterrica is a vegan, which seems a difficult thing to be in South American countries, but she makes strong points with an entertaining though very gory story. Show Less
LibraryThing member Luminous-Path
Well. Time to get drunk.
LibraryThing member SharonMariaBidwell
The subject of humans being used as meat is not a new one, and I could mention another book which I feel has approached it better. I wanted to feel for the main character in this novel, but I couldn’t connect with the story mostly because of the way it’s written. Many authors seem to adopt
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present tense recently, but it took several confusing pages for me to realise ‘he’ almost always means the main character. For example: “El Gringo steps away from Egmont and approaches him, just as he’s thinking there must be more than 200 in the barn.” Read as is, this sentence is very confusing. How can someone both step away AND approach? And who is doing the thinking? When you realise the ‘him’ and the ‘he’s thinking’ are both Marcos (the MC), the sentence becomes clearer, but I’m surprised any decent editor allowed the book to go to publication like this, and would take it as a self-published book. The entire basis of the story — the almost non-existent animal population because of a virus — would present a far great ecological disaster than humans being unable to find meat for their dinner plate. Then there’s the scene of animal cruelty which adds nothing to the story. I dislike animal cruelty in books, though will tolerate it if I feel it is important, but here it struck me as entirely unnecessary. I hate sounding negative. The author tells a decent story, and aside from the lack of a personal pronoun for the main character can clearly write. However, the book is neither frightening as a horror story, nor does it work as a great allegory, except, perhaps, to show human nature at its most bleak and appalling. Show Less
LibraryThing member cassidybolton
too short to get enough plot, ending did surprise me though. interesting concept but not fleshed out (ha) enough. characters: 3, plot: 3, writing: 2.5
LibraryThing member BibliophageOnCoffee
This is by far the most repulsive book I have ever read, but I will absolutely never forget it. I'm still chewing on the ending. Lots of food for thought in this little book about legalized cannibalism.
LibraryThing member Sucharita1986
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica is a gory dystopian tale showing mankind's descent both in thinking and lifestyle. The plot has some gruesome details with emotionless characters. I just could not believe if this is really the future of the world. People who are just devoid of emotions
But I would like to warn the readers that it has some bizarre details that brought my stomach to my throat. It has body horror, blood, killings, and everything else that feels like crawling under the skin. Still, the book is worth a one-time read and deserves 4 stars.
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are enjoying this world. But it needs only one person to change everything. Marcos, the main character, is just awesome. His character stands on a very thin line between good and bad. And the author has left it entirely to the readers to decide his true nature. Although the climax has a major cliffhanger, it was just mind-blowing. I would have loved a final conclusion. But I would like to warn the readers that it has some bizarre details that brought my stomach to my throat. It has body horror, blood, killings, and everything else that feels like crawling under the skin. Still, the book is worth a one-time read and deserves 4 stars.
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LibraryThing member Eavans
It's been a week or so since I finished this and I'm still stuck with how to articulate my feelings on it: some of this was so visceral and stomach-churning in such a unique way that I appreciated it immensely. It had similar beats to the old-school dystopia novels like Fahrenheit 451, which made
This had the potential to be amazing but unfortunately got stuck gazing at puppies and ruining character buildup.
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it potentially rich to discuss as pure allegory, but it also made it very predictable. It would make a great high school book if not for the subject matter! Anyways, this predictability would have been fine if some sections were not so dull and the ending so useless. The ending is a twist in a way that felt unearned, a bit lazy and relying on shock value. What in the story is leading to this? What is the narrative impact of this beyond leaving the reader upset and with something to talk about online?This had the potential to be amazing but unfortunately got stuck gazing at puppies and ruining character buildup.
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LibraryThing member KallieGrace
3.5? Honestly, the lengths people will go to not to be vegetarian.
LibraryThing member whatalicesaw
I’m not sure what to say about this. It was beautifully translated. It was slow, but not. The story was unique. Also, a true commentary on how we allow those in power to manipulate & control & gaslight us as a collective. How to manipulate scientists, how to convince individuals that the
And, the twist at the end sealed the five stars.
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government pushed us into believing & doing horrible things.And, the twist at the end sealed the five stars.
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LibraryThing member modioperandi
Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC.
A graphic description of a society in which human meat is systematically produced and eaten. Well, however, this was a different reading experience. I got a little at times, even though my threshold of disgust is pretty high.
To the extent that it is unbelievable that
All in all its a chilling account of the world of the future, where a plague-like disease has forced the abandonment of animal eating and the replacement source of protein has been taken to be "special meat", i.e. the other half of humanity. Time will tell whether the Breeding Cattle will become a classic similar to, for example, Orwell's 1984 book or Bradbury's Brave New World.
It's hard to image what the translation was like and what if anything was edited out. Goodness.
A graphic description of a society in which human meat is systematically produced and eaten. Well, however, this was a different reading experience. I got a little at times, even though my threshold of disgust is pretty high.
To the extent that it is unbelievable that
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people would probably not be able to get over the fact that the meat is recognizable as coming from a person. Somehow it’s hard to digest the fact that people are happy to pop their own species partners. Well, if we now assume that this happens in spite of everything, the protagonist of the book is a sad minority vegan. She is in a separation after losing a child, her father is in bad shape, her sister’s family is also a jerk and she longs for the past world where she got to puppies and visit the zoo. He, of course, receives as a gift a "head," or carcass, that he does not want to eat. Well what does a man do with a carcass he doesn't want to eat? Well, what follows is exactly what you might guess. Which, in turn, follows exactly what you might have guessed.All in all its a chilling account of the world of the future, where a plague-like disease has forced the abandonment of animal eating and the replacement source of protein has been taken to be "special meat", i.e. the other half of humanity. Time will tell whether the Breeding Cattle will become a classic similar to, for example, Orwell's 1984 book or Bradbury's Brave New World.
It's hard to image what the translation was like and what if anything was edited out. Goodness.
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LibraryThing member Familiar_Diversions
Marcos is the son of a butcher whose primary focus, right now, is ensuring that his father, who has dementia, gets the care he needs and is respectfully cremated after his death. In this new world, where an infectious virus has supposedly made all animal meat and products poisonous to humans, it's
We're given detailed descriptions of what Marcos' job at a meat processing plant is like, as he talks to tanners, breeders, and others his company works with, and gives potential new hires a tour of his plant. He can barely stomach this work anymore, to the point that he secretly stops eating meat altogether, and it nearly pushes him over the edge when a client gifts him an FGP female.
In case my description didn't make it clear, this book is set in a world where humans eat other humans. It's very clearly a message about the horrors of the meat industry, and it might have been more effective if I weren't a genre reader who found myself constantly questioning the world of this book.
It didn't make any sense. Marcos and others strongly suspected that the virus that supposedly made all animal meat poisonous to humans was, in fact, a government conspiracy to reduce overpopulation. There was no believable explanation for why so many believed in the virus to the point of killing all nearby animals, including zoo animals and beloved pets, and the author paid zero attention to the ecological damage that this wholesale slaughter would have caused. Readers were also supposed to believe that the majority of people would accept "special meat" made out of humans as replacement for animal meat. The world-building was vague at best, dependent on the book's frequent on-page cruelties to keep readers from noticing.
The story was populated by hordes of voiceless victims (literally, in the case of the people bred and raised to be meat - their vocal cords were removed) surrounded by monsters. Reading this was like watching a long string of torture porn-style ads supposedly meant to raise awareness about animal cruelty.
On the plus side, finishing this means that I'm prepared for my next book club meeting, and I'm sure our discussion will be interesting.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
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not an easy goal. Meat for human consumption is supposed to come from genetically modified head, bred to age faster, or from First Generation Pure (FGP) head. Special meat isn't supposed to have a name, but it's not unheard of for deceased people to end up sold on the black market, and Marcos wants to make sure that never happens to his father.We're given detailed descriptions of what Marcos' job at a meat processing plant is like, as he talks to tanners, breeders, and others his company works with, and gives potential new hires a tour of his plant. He can barely stomach this work anymore, to the point that he secretly stops eating meat altogether, and it nearly pushes him over the edge when a client gifts him an FGP female.
In case my description didn't make it clear, this book is set in a world where humans eat other humans. It's very clearly a message about the horrors of the meat industry, and it might have been more effective if I weren't a genre reader who found myself constantly questioning the world of this book.
It didn't make any sense. Marcos and others strongly suspected that the virus that supposedly made all animal meat poisonous to humans was, in fact, a government conspiracy to reduce overpopulation. There was no believable explanation for why so many believed in the virus to the point of killing all nearby animals, including zoo animals and beloved pets, and the author paid zero attention to the ecological damage that this wholesale slaughter would have caused. Readers were also supposed to believe that the majority of people would accept "special meat" made out of humans as replacement for animal meat. The world-building was vague at best, dependent on the book's frequent on-page cruelties to keep readers from noticing.
The story was populated by hordes of voiceless victims (literally, in the case of the people bred and raised to be meat - their vocal cords were removed) surrounded by monsters. Reading this was like watching a long string of torture porn-style ads supposedly meant to raise awareness about animal cruelty.
On the plus side, finishing this means that I'm prepared for my next book club meeting, and I'm sure our discussion will be interesting.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
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Awards
The Morning News Tournament of Books (Short List — 2021)
Ladies of Horror Fiction Award (Winner — Novel — 2020)
Premio Clarín de Novela (2017)
NPR: Books We Love (2020)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2017-11-29
Physical description
224 p.; 8.38 inches
ISBN
1982150920 / 9781982150921