Tender Is the Flesh

This is quite honestly the most disturbing book I've ever read. Stomach churning, upsetting, horrifying and horrible - it goes on and on. And yet so compelling is the story and the will for things to come good - the wish for a revolution, a change. Probably the most chilling aspect of the story are the parallels. The first reaction to this story is, "Never. This will never happen". Then comes the drip feed: the government coercing and the manipulation using fear, before the realisation that such horrendous acts have been done over and over during history - when individuals are dehumanised and others manipulated and scared. This is the most rambling review I've ever written. I'm that rattled. Anyhow, I've given this book five stars because of the powerfulness of it. Both it and the messages it contains are not to be forgotten.

The good: I enjoyed this book a lot. I personally loved the main character seeing who he presents himself to be on the outside and how he really was very different internally. He is in a constant swing from bad to good which makes him very human, this makes it easy to feel for him. It was interesting seeing his facade break as the story progressed, him dealing with his anxiety and everything traumatic that was happening. I also love the spin of this book. I would almost say it is political in that it says a lot about animal rights without animals even being present. Because these conditions we place animals in - testing, breeding, meat production are only seen as shocking because it’s our own kind we’re putting in these situations in this book. Most people are so detached from this reality that we can’t sympathize with animals, but putting humans in those positions seeing the fear and the pain, the gore from this perspective may enable some people to open up their minds about this subject. And the bad: The only reason why I didn’t give this book 5 stars was because the ending was really short and rushed. And even though I liked that I didn’t expect the way it turned out. I was disappointed because I was hoping that this growth, this breaking of his outer personality, him showing his values was leading somewhere. I was waiting for him to do something drastic that no one would expect. Break and show his true views that these people are human because that would break all the social norms everything he built too. Or I would have personally preferred, if we went the insane route - killing the “oppressor's” maybe even doing to them what they did to others eating them and feeling satisfied because he’s mentally broken and I think that these would have been a more satisfying endings but in the end he just reverted back to society and shunned that part of himself by killing jasmine. I thought his father’s death would break him and he would follow his ideology but no. Which is a little sad but the book was good nonetheless.

Tender is the flesh by Agustina Bazterrica was my first read at the start of this month, it's quite short novel just over 200pages so I finished it in 2 nights but I've been finding it hard to rate this one tbh. I kept seeing this book pop up on tik tok with people raving about how good it was so naturally when i seen it on offer on the kindle I had to get it to see what the fuss was about for myself. This book is a seriously disturbing twisted and gruesome read yet at the same time it really makes you think but it's definitely not for those weak of heart or stomach for that matter as it gets very descriptive and is jam packed full of every trigger imaginable. Set in a dystopian world were animals have been infected by a virus and are no longer safe to be kept, breed or eaten by humans so the government makes it legal to breed humans for consumption aka "special meat" grim right.... 🤢 The story is told entirely by our main character Marcos who works at one of the top processing plants and I found myself feeling sympathetic towards him as you get a real insight to his thoughts ,grief and how he sees this new world....until I got to the end and was like wtf!!! I felt this book started off great and although very dark and disturbing it had me hooked but then halfway through it took a turn for the worse for me where it was just too much ,too descriptive and I felt like the ending was rushed and just came out of nowhere. It's definitely not worth the hype it has been getting in my opinion but it has had an effect on how much meat I've consumed since reading it and thinking of cutting it out completely 😅 It's a very generous 3⭐️ overall from me.

Probably the most disturbing book I have ever read. You will feel physically ill reading this. I said to my husband when I had about a third of it read that I might be vegan by the time I have finished it. I honestly couldn’t put it down as I wanted to see how it ended. The only thing I didn’t like was the very abrupt ending. But I would highly recommend it. It’s won’t be like any other book you will ever read.

This was the most unique book I've ever read and I enjoyed it immensely. Despite being just 200 pages long it didnt lack depth and the characters were all well fleshed out. The ending really surprised me too 😳

A very thought provoking book. Well written and quite interesting. Kinda wish it was longer, but it is small and mighty. Definitely recommend!

Tender is the flesh and yummy is the sock! What in the actual cannibalism?! 😳 In a world where animals are off the menu (deadly virus, no big deal), humans become the new meat. Yup. Full-on factory farms, slaughterhouses, and breeding centers, but for PEOPLE. 🍖🚫 We follow a guy who works in a human meat plant (normal job??) as he spirals into existential horror. It’s dark, disturbing, and had me making faces the whole time 🤢 The concept? 🔥 The writing? Eh… maybe a translation thing 🤷‍♀️ Final thoughts: Tender is the Flesh will haunt your brain and ruin your next BBQ. 8/10 do not eat while reading. 🥩📚💀

Novela de lectura rápida que no te deja indiferente. No apta para lectores aprensivos. Sitúa al lector en un futuro distópico en què los humanos no pueden comer animales, por lo que recurren a la carne humana, que crían en granjas, con leyes y normas para regularlo. La normalización es lo que pone los pelos de punta y no puedes dejar de pensar cómo podría llegar a ser posible, o no ...

Finished reading almost a year ago, and I'm still thinking about it. The ending is spectacular, truly a joy to see that such stories can still be written in the abyss of contemporary unoriginality.

Quite disturbing. I am going to think of this for long time.

This was a very dark and challenging read. There’s not really any content warning that will prevent me from reading a book if I find the premise interesting. In fact, I read this on recommendation from a friend who told me it was incredibly dark and f’ed up, so I knew what I was getting into. I was not prepared. This is one of only two books in my life that I’ve felt uneasy about and had to just sit and process for a while after I finished it. (The other is Lolita.) The book was incredibly well written and realistic, so much so that it seemed believable, like humanity might actually be forced into cannibalism one day. That realism, I think, was the root of my unease. The first half of the book is more viscerally graphic. We get a look into how cannibalism became necessary, how the “cattle” are bred and treated, and we even get a fairly detailed tour of a meat processing facility. The second half is where it gets more disturbing. It’s clear the humans raised for food aren’t viewed as people – they’re viewed as animals, the same way we view cows or pigs. The author did a great job of subtly creating that viewpoint shift, and focusing on the differences between ‘them’ and ‘us.’ We get deeper into the morality of this system, and trying to figure out where to draw the line, specifically when it comes to sex. The law says no, because they’re not people, right? They’re branded and treated like cattle. And yet, they are still human, and they have human needs and desires, and they look like people, so one surely couldn’t be faulted for treating them like people sometimes. I highly recommend this book if you think you can handle it.

The book was intriguing, could stop reading it to be honest. I personally didn’t think the ending was shocking at all. I was told that this was a super creepy book but after reading it I just don’t think it’s all that terrifying. I will say however I was quite creeped out by how it was made to seem that harvesting people could actually be something to happen irl.