Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Tender Is The Flesh.

I was intrigued the premise, strangely appropriate was the subject matter especially during these challenging times, and I was excited when my request was approved.

Have you seen Soylent Green? This book makes that movie look like a Disney cartoon.

I'm still not sure how to describe Tender Is the Flesh (great title, btw).

This is more than a story set amid the dystopian world where a virus has contaminated all the meat in the world, forcing the government to adopt a new strategy, condoning the selling and purchasing of human meat, raised as cattle, treated as cattle and worse.

This is more than dark...not morbid but depraved, horrifying, and sorrowful.

There are graphic scenes of a slaughterhouse, slavery, references to rape and sexual violence.

This book is not for everyone. It was hard to read at times.

As I was reading, I thought of all the books I've read on how our cattle is raised and slaughtered for our butchers and supermarkets, for human consumption. I'm not ashamed to say I could feel bile rise at the back of my throat a little.

At times, the story isn't just about the human slaughterhouse, but about the main character, a man struggling to care for his father, suffering from severe dementia, and grieving the loss of his son from SIDS. HIs wife has left to recuperate at her mother's so he is left alone with his own sorrow and suffering.

As he tries to balance a heinous occupation with his own personal losses, he worries he is losing the tenuous strands of his own humanity.

When he is given 'cattle' of his own, he finds himself soothed by her presence, finds comfort in her silence and what she brings to his life. But, he imperils his own life, and his family, if the government discovers what he has done.

The ending is...a shock. I didn't expect. A part of me was hoping for a hopeful ending but the ending was...wow. But, it was apt, considering the world the characters were living in. You adapt or you die.

The writing is great, though I would have loved more exposition on how the government came to their current mandate on human meat consumption and production.

This is a frightening look at a new world order, not just about what climate change or a pandemic can do to our way of life, but how such a world changing event can do to what is left of humanity. Who is better off? You decide.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 Stars

Tender is the Flesh is definitely not a light read, but it is an extraordinary read. In a future where overpopulation is rampant, a virus has infected all animal meat, and the government is heavily influencing the thoughts and minds of its people, there is... Special Meat. Special Meat, often referred to by it's parts "special kidneys" or "special liver" is government approved human meat. After all, there would be no meat otherwise and overpopulation is already a problem. The book is very graphic in its explanations of how the "meat" is raised, slaughtered, sold, and prepared, so this book definitely isn't for everyone. Tender is the Flesh forces the reader to take a look at their inherent moral beliefs and what they would do to survive.

4.5 stars.

Whoa. This one will stick with you. Do not go into this book unprepared. There is extremely explicit violence in this novel with graphic descriptions of the butchering process as well as cannibalism. This was extremely difficult to read, yet at the same time totally engrossing. I couldn't look away though several scenes made my stomach turn.

The composition of this work is exceptionally well done. The writing is incredibly blunt while still being atmospherically descriptive. The translation seems to be very well done. The world building is well executed and I could fully envision all of the scenes.

I found the novel particularly interesting as I am a part of the meat industry. We raise beef cattle and hogs and this novel explores the slaughterhouse process in detail, really making the reader consider things from a different angle when the animals being processed are humans. It was incredibly interesting to read, sometimes difficult to analogize, and seriously caused me to contemplate the possibilities of humanity. (Let's face it, things are weird in our world right now and who knows what could happen.) While I admit that the slaughtering process is something I have always struggled with, I still left the story feeling okay with how our personal animals are handled. There is a large difference between small farm processing and commercial plants and I think that makes it easier for me to tolerate, knowing that my animals have a good quality of life. I will continue to both raise animals for and eat meat.

Such a powerful read and one that just continues to somewhat haunt me. Oh...and that ending. Wow.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

Well then. Tender Is the Flesh is a haunting commentary on how easily our society can devolve when it comes to basic rights, as readers quickly recognize the lack of humanity present in the human characters and how any chance for it has been stripped from the "special meat." I enjoyed reading about a person who hates his butchering job but continues to do the work for personal reasons, all while grappling with the grief of losing a child and potentially his father. The translation read smoothly and contained so many atrocities without Bazterrica ever being too graphic, and I couldn't wait to see what turn we'd be taken in next. Definitely recommend this one!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Disturbing. Shocking. Gruesome. A book that you will not be able to leave behind once you've completed this rather grim story of a future society where humans consume humans. Not for the faint of heart but somewhere in all of the slaughter, there is a shred of light into the humanity of the main character. Beautifully written even in its gory depictions of death. A book that will make you wonder if we could possibly ever go to this extreme or are we already heading there?

This is an incredibly difficult book to rate, as it was horrifying, but also incredibly well written. It was almost horrifyingly beautiful in just how it presented us with this unbelievable world where animals are essentially dead from a virus or dead from humans killing them for fear of a virus. And instead of just eating plants, or somehow finding a cure for the virus using state of the art laboratories around the world, the government mandates human meat farms - and people LOVE it. People were simply ravenous for meat, couldn't go without, and are fine eating humans, so long as every ounce of their humanity has been stripped away. These humans are called "head" (like head of cattle) and "meat," and their parts are referred to in pork and beef terms to remove the horror. The commentary is certainly clear and present - how many people tour a meat processing plant and continue to happily consume meat products? How many people look on with indifference as an animal is hunted, tortured, dismembered, then stuffed and hung on their walls? Is there a world where the majority of humans could somehow separate their own humanity from humans who serve only as meat, laboratory testing "things," and trophies? Are we there already with how groups of people feel about and treat large groups of people, be they of different races, countries, classes, views? I can certainly see the many directions this book was taking us.

As a long time vegetarian, this book was horrific on many levels, and reaffirming of my position. But it certainly wasn't simply a commentary on the meat industry. This book had so many complex layers, I can't help but be wowed by the entire approach. I could have done without the puppy scene ... it just wasn't necessary to any part of the plot. I also couldn't imagine how this was going to end, and was not disappointed.

This is a hard book to rate because I can't say I would "recommend" people read it, as it's not an enjoyable read - it's thoroughly cringeworthy and I often wanted to turn away from the ideas and the gore, but it's also fairly brilliant and I can't help being very impressed.

This book was an absolute wild ride! It definitely left me feeling so uncomfortable throughout the whole story. I really enjoyed Bazterrica's voice.

What would happen to the meat industry if animals were suddenly inedible? Wiped out by a terrifying virus that makes animals toxic to humans. Tender is the Flesh answers that question in the coldest, cruelest way possible: cannibalism. To avoid the collapse of multiple industries and to satiate humanity’s “need” for meat, the world moves toward state-sanctioned cannibalism, a world where humans are bred for consumption. This is nothing new, the industry is already there, just look at any abattoir, the mass production of meat is already here.

Marcos is an overseer at a slaughterhouse, and due to his role, he is intimately familiar with the industry—working with breeding centers, tanneries, game reserves, and laboratories. The world feels as if it is been turned upside down yet it feels so cold, so normal. Marcos is numb, grieving the loss of his family while dealing with a terrifying new reality, every sentence feels like a scream held in behind his calm. The consumption of human flesh feels banal, no eviler than the evil that already exists in society.

Tender is the Flesh is one of the ugliest most challenging works I have ever read. I felt guilty when I dared to feel relief for the main character and horrified when I didn’t feel more sorry for the “product.” The story is truly nauseating and gives readers a lot to think about our culture of consumption.

Cannibalism-- not a subject I expected to be so enthralled by, but alas, here we are in 2020. Animals are gone, and humans still want meat... so they come to eat each other. Or "heads" as they are known. 

The transition and the desensitization of the whole situation is interesting. Hard to read at times, but I kept pushing forward trying to understand just how you adjust to eating another human.

Interesting to read during a global pandemic, hope it doesn't come to this!

Tender is the Flesh is, without a doubt, the most horrifying and disturbing book I've ever read. I genuinely don't know how to rate this. I finished it almost a week ago and I'm the same state of *wtf* that I felt immediately after turning the last page. I can't get it out of my head though. I find myself recalling multiple sections (and I have a bad memory, so this doesn't happen often), and re-analyzing what I thought of them. While this is beautifully written and very fascinating (and deeply traumatic), a reader needs to fully prepare themselves for the horrors that are within; to be fully prepared to not take the text at face value and understand the meaning beneath it. It takes many notes from classics like 1984 , The Jungle , and Animal Farm , but it is so unlike any of those that it simply brings the reader to a more familiar place, which I think was absolutely brilliant.

Tender is the Flesh is set in an alternate, near-future Argentina where a mysterious "virus" eradicated a majority of the animal population, causing the government to sanctify and legalize cannibalism for human consumption. Cannibalism is one of those topics that nearly every culture identifies as taboo, which is why zombies are so horrifying to us, so when a piece of art crosses that threshold, we genuinely don't know how to comprehend it.That's one of the reasons why Tender is the Flesh is so effective in its horror. Bazterrica creates a world that feels so human (pun definitely intended), even though it's a society at it's absolute worse. It's gruesome and gritty, yet there's aspects of it that feel so mundane and normal that you lose yourself.

The use of language here is fascinating - there are multiple explanations of how society justified the humans-for-meat consumption industry by adapting some of the traditional language used in slaughterhouses and butchers - referring to them as "product" and "heads," how different cuts are identified, breeding practices, etc. The concept as a whole is absolutely disgusting, but that's what makes it so effective. There are multiple, drawn out sequences depicting the horrors of the meat packing plants. The most notable of these scenes occurs when our MC, Marcos, interviews two potential candidates for an open position at the plant and we're taken through multiple areas. Bazterrica looks at each stage of this process in excruciating detail ((view spoiler)).

This is not an enjoyable read in the slightest. Many times I had to take breaks because I felt so nauseated by what I was reading. There are so many trigger warnings that I could (and probably should) add, including animal abuse, domestic violence, rape, among many others. Do I recommend it though? Yes. The worldbuilding and ambience that Bazterrica establishes in such a short book is nothing but remarkable. This is an indepth analysis at the depravity of humans and what lengths we're able to go for the ones we love. It's a beautiful depiction of grief and identity in a politically-driven, trauma-defined world - which I think is a message that many of us can relate. It also offers a detailed look at class and how we blindly categorize groups of people and their abilities.

There are a few drawbacks to this for me (a few plot points - the ending, specifically - and one scene involving puppies that almost ruined the whole thing for me). I think this could easily turn someone into a vegetarian, which honestly, could be part of the point. Definitely make an effort to NOT eat while reading this...But in all, this is a wonderfully written novel and I'm grateful to add it to my repertoire . We need more books that challenge our viewpoints and what we are willing to endure. While the concepts here seem far-fetched and outlandish, the society itself is not far from our current state; I think Tender is the Flesh serves as a warning to what we could become.

Agustina Bazterrica is an Argentinian novelist and short story writer who has already received several awards. Tender is the Flesh is her first novel translated into English. It is a dystopian novel about a virus transmitted through animals that starts to kill off the human population. Some people believed the virus's purpose was to cull the masses. After not being able top develop a vaccine or find a cure for the virus, they kill off all of the animals to stop its spread.

In this new world you have people harvesting other people. Society has turned to cannibalism in order to whet their appetite for meat. Subjects are dehumanized, stripped of any identity and devalued as simply product. Isolation and the cutting of vocal cords are used to make them easier to control. Government issued product uses artificial insemination to ensure "quality". People who are harvested to be slaughtered are divided according to skin color <i>(leather and material for clothing)</i> and whether they originated through genetic modification or are first generation product <i>(think organic here)</i>. On the black market their destination is branded onto their bodies. Green marks on their chest means they will be sent to game reserves that service the rich who like to hunt down famous people. Black marks denote those destined for research testing in labs.

For the most part the people have adapted to the "Transition" with little resistance. Human meat is called "special meat". Cuts of the body are given the same names that would be given to cuts of pork or beef. Communion takes on new meaning as "take of my body and eat of my flesh" becomes a literal sacrifice.

Our main character Marcos works for a production plant where they harvest and maintain humans to be slaughtered. He struggles to get through his days with a shred of humanity left. He hasn't bought into this transition fully. He does his job out of what he deems necessity. But unlike his sister, he does not wield an umbrella to protect him from the danger of birds and he does not eat human flesh. So when he is given an FGP he is unsure what to do with her. All he knows is that to treat her as human would be a crime.

Bazterrica gives startling detail about how the bodies are handled. It is so perverse that I was glad I had eaten and digested my dinner before I started reading. The book is stark and presents a challenge on both the literal take and subversive levels. By the time you finish the book you realize it is not a dystopian novel, but a horror about our modern day society. One need only to turn on the news to see how our sense of morality is being tested and how desensitized we are becoming to atrocity.

<i>Special thanks to NetGalley, Scribner and Agustina Bazterrica for access to this book.</i>

Intriguing premise and plenty gory. Lots of dystopian spec fic excludes the gore, but if we are to believe what Mad Max tells us, a future with any kind of resource scarcity is going to involve some guts getting spilled. Cuts to the quick in its criticism of class and the exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few.

I could have done without the dream sequences, which I found too frequent, over the top, and frustratingly vague. They were grisly, yes, but did not add much to the narrative. I was totally taken aback by the ending, and not in a good way. I find it a cheap trick to be enmeshed in, suffocated by, a protagonist's thoughts, only to find that the most crucial thoughts were ones I was not privy to as a reader. If I cared to read this book again, I might try to analyze the narrative for clues to the ending, but as it stands, I am okay with adding this one to the pile of satisfactorily imagined dystopias.

This is an amazing novel. It is NOT for everyone. If you liked Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake or The Handmaid's Rail, 1984, or (as a friend suggested) Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, this book is for you. And brace yourself: This book is graphic, but also often understated which actually really emphasizes the surreal nature of the book. In this seemingly not to distant future, people are food. They are bred and raised to be "special meat," in a world where a mysterious virus (that maybe or may not be a government hoax...) has caused human being to kill/destroy most of the animals on the planet, domesticated, pet, or wild. Birds are a source of fear and horror for people. The main character (whose wife has gone to her mother's at the start of the novel, after a terrible loss of a child), works in a slaughterhouse for human beings.
That's all you need to know about this book. If it sounds interesting, read it--there are many layers of meaning happening here and it is truly stunning.

This book is getting four stars because of the last two pages. Never in my life have I read a book that I was prepared to have a middling opinion on, only to do a complete 180 after reading the last words.

Tender is the Flesh is certainly the most unique book I've read this year - I can honestly say there's nothing I can compare it to. As you'll see from the description and other reviews, it doesn't mince words - from the very first chapter, you realize what the premise of the book is. A deadly virus has infected all animals on earth, including and especially animals like cows, pigs, chickens, etc. that humans eat. Desperate for more protein and frankly, just more meat, governments start allowing consumption of the only other animal protein left: humans. But no one calls it "eating humans" or "cannibalism" - that terminology is illegal. It's "special meat" or "head" instead, and there are firm rules around what you can and can't say, who you can and can't eat, and how you can or can't treat these not-so-human-humans. These "head" made for consumption have their vocal cords removed and are treated as animals from birth, not as humans.

The main character, Tejo, is part of the leadership of a "special meat" slaughterhouse, but he despises the practice. He's only doing it for money - his dad went into traumatic shock after the Transition, and he needs a way of taking care of him. Tejo and his wife just miscarried their baby, and he is spiraling downwards. The actual plot development is a bit slow and piecemeal - much of the story focuses on things external to Tejo - but the twist in his story is what made me bump up the rating. The ending is immaculate.

The book is clearly a critique of factory farming, feedlots, and animal consumption - all of the thinly veiled metaphors using humans are very obviously getting us to realize the fine lines between what we deem has dignity and deserves respect, and what we depersonalize and eat as food. I'm a meat-eater and haven't seriously considered giving it up, but this made me rethink all of it.

I'm also a huge fan of dystopia, but this book does it differently than I've ever seen. There's no dramatic worldbuilding - Tejo's world feels eerily similar to our own, and given the current pandemic, the comparisons are a little too close for comfort. He goes into all of the small things that make this world so horrifying: the breeding centers, the butcher shops, the almost Nazi-like laboratories, the Scavengers, the funeral homes, everything. He doesn't let you have any comfort in how strange this is, yet by the end, it almost seems normal. It's funny how our brains can let us live with something as horrifying as eating other humans.

Overall, I'm not sure I would recommend this book to others given the subject matter - it's certainly not for everyone. But to those whose taste I know is good, I trust them to understand the intricacies of this book, drawing the comparisons to Kazuo Ishiguro and Aldous Huxley. Thank you to Scribner for the ARC!

Agustina Bazerrica’s newest novel, Tender is the Flesh, shares similarities with other literature in subject, tone, and unsettling ideas, yet is wholly unique.

Genre fans and others will come to appreciate the world Bazterrica creates. Could a virus infect all meat fit for consumption? Could governments eventually approve the consumption of human flesh as the only viable alternative? The author makes it clear just how it could happen.

Marcos is a conflicted main character. He becomes the readers’ connection to what is happening. His struggles and acceptances of these world events are not beyond the realm of possible human reactions.

Bazterrica pulls no punches as she calmly and bluntly describes the processes in which “special meat” is cultivated, slaughtered, and prepared for the market. Readers should be prepared to experience scenes of human slaughterhouses, including everything from breeding to recipes and menu items. All of this is presented as just how the world is; this is not a novel that uses gratuitous violence, there is a larger point being made.

It becomes clear this novel will push readers to consider the book as more than “just a cannibal book”. It is a study in moral ambiguity, revulsion, and what it means to be human. One of the most unsettling aspects of the novel is that it causes the reader to look inside themselves and asks “where would you fall in a world such as this?”

If any book can be called a MUST READ book this year, Tender is the Flesh is it.

This book, to use the parlance of our times left me shook.

It’s a lot. And it was constantly battering every expectation of it that I had. Since this is the translated version, and we all know that you frequently lose nuance in translation, I’m left wondering if Sarah Moses is just an incredibly good translator, or if Agustina Bazterrica might just be the best writer of all time because this book is insanely good.

This story critiques so much about humanity (consumerism, rigidity, blind conformity, classism,etc.) in such a bleak, unflinching way that it absolutely floored me. It tells it like it is, and then it batters you relentlessly with humanity’s very real moral failings in the guise of some invented moral failings masked as human resilience and ingenuity. Bazterrica has a very real talent for capturing the way that humans are capable of quickly and effectively normalize atrocities (hello world under the Trump administration!).

It’s revolting. It’s disturbing. It’s incredibly powerful. What evil things humans will do so long as the majority is doing it too. I found myself wondering at the beginning – why didn’t the world just go vegetarian? But then I sat on that question for the approximately 14 seconds it took my brain to jump to a parallel question – why can’t we get people to wear masks in the middle of a pandemic (those who are medically able, I mean)? The answer – lots of people are inflexible garbage who are far more worried with their own convenience and the illusion that ‘everything is as it always is and always has been and always will be’ than they are for the very lives of the people around them.

Chilling, haunting, and indescribably brutal at times, Tender is the Flesh is a nightmare dystopia that questions our sense of morality and feeds on the disturbing taboo of cannibalism. And yet there is a love story here as well - one that is tender and honest, existing in a world of sharp contrast. This work is not for the squeamish.

TW: SA, Animal abuse, abuse in general, body horror

Agustina Bazterrica does an amazing job of world-building in what one would consider a short standalone book. The world-building was truly part of the horror experience, and I think that that really assisted in making one squeamish while reading. The main character seemingly separates himself from society in that he doesn't want to cave into needing the "special meat". This makes him feel more like what you would think of yourself in this situation and makes the character more likable. However, by the end of the book, those feelings drastically change. 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. 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.

Read the full review on 8/21/2020

Thanks to @netgalley + @scribnerbooks for the eARC! Originally released in Spanish in 2017, the English translation was published 8/4. It's a great pick for #womenintranslation month! ⁣
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That being said...this was a ride + you should tread lightly. I would describe this as dystopian horror, so if that's your thing you can ignore all of my hesitation + pick it up. ⁣
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I don't read a lot of horror so I can't know for sure, but I feel like the "point" is to talk about a lot of very real things behind all of the gross, gory things that are happening on the surface. Bazterrica zealously takes on factory farming, sexism + classism while creating an alternate universe of which I would be truly horrified to be a part. By dehumanizing the "head" selected for consumption, she simultaneously shows how distant we've become from the meat industry (with incredibly harmful, violent consequences) + how easy it is to dehumanize others for the sake of preserving oneself.⁣
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*Full disclosure, I became an accidental vegetarian after reading this one. If you're comfortable with your meat consumption and do not want to change, I'd recommend skipping this one.*⁣
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My only critique (despite how truly disgusting this was to read - I was squinting with one eye open begging certain parts to be over) is that it was sometimes hard to tell if Bazterrica is incredibly sexist herself or trying to make a point through satire. Reading the synopsis before I started, I gave the book the benefit of the doubt only because this is written by a woman. Maybe that's unfair, but I didn't need to read a book written by a man about a man discovering that the "animal" he has in his barn is actually a woman who deserves to be treated like a human being. Maybe it came through slightly better in Spanish, but there were times that I felt like the book could be read as simply upholding the things that I think it was trying to critique. ⁣

Tender is the Flesh is WILD. I don't even know where to start with this one - it's completely captivating and disturbing, and even though it's so grim, it's hard to put down. The writing style is interesting because it's written in such a matter-of-fact way. The book deals with unsettling subject matter, but it's not trying to shock you - it's written like this is just the way the world is. The translation is good. Tender is the Flesh is haunting and memorable, and even though it's great, I will probably never read it again (and I mean that in the best way).

CW - rape, miscarriage, human trafficking, death of a child, infertility, death of a parent, animal death, homophobia, grief, torture / experimentation