I’d seen mutuals that picked up and lost their minds over Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica. As it was listed as horror, I figured it was time to pick this up and give it a go for this spooky October. I honestly have to say, this wasn’t so much a horror than it was dystopian and the most disturbing thing I’d ever read. As disturbing as it was, it was amazingly profound which makes this review incredibly difficult to write. I will probably try to do a spoiler full discussion on this later, but for now, let’s get into it.
content warning: this book contains disturbing situations and the review will be touching upon them such as cannibalism, dehumanization, sexual assault, murder, experimentation, human trafficking
The basic premise is this a dystopian world set around 20 years in the future (I extrapolated this guess based off of a character’s age.) Sometime in these 20 years, a disease infects all non-human animals and is fatal to humans via consumption or even through broken skin. The governments of the world respond to this crisis but killing every single animal in existence of course. Makes sense. So logical. Well, once animals are all completely irradiated, people are forced to find a new source of protein. Now, you’d think, like I did, easy, everyone will switch to plant based proteins. Except, no, they don’t. They, in theory, try that but it led to severe protein deficiencies and so of course, they find another solution, which just so happens to also resolve many other issues humanity is having. They decide on cannibalism. But of course, they can’t call it cannibalism, that isn’t civilized. So begins the great “Transition.” They create “strict rules and regulations” surrounding the husbandry of “special meat.”
They aren’t humans, they are “heads,” they are “special meat.” They are bred for specific purposes in mind, stunned, killed, milked. They are kept isolated with vocal cords removed. They are sold for meat processing. They are sold to game reserves for hunting. They are sold to science laboratories for experiments. They are sold to tanneries for leather. They are not people. Treat them like people, refer to them as people, and you’re headed for slaughter as well. This is the lay of the land when we start the novel.
Now, despite this disturbing, grotesque premise, the book is surprisingly not graphic. I think that is what makes Tender is the Flesh so powerful. I think under a less skilled author, this easily could’ve swayed into gore and torture porn territory. Instead, everything is presented so matter of fact, it simply hits you so much harder, penetrating the skin until you feel dirty and uncomfortable but unable to look away. It is non-comical satire that forces you to sit with an overwhelming amount of hurt that would otherwise be overlooked on the daily. I will touch on all of this in my deeper full spoiler dive, for now, I’ll move on.
We follow Marcos, second in command at one of the largest/most prestigious processing plants in the unnamed country that is likely Argentina where the author is from. He is disillusioned with everything and everyone. He hates society. He hates what has become. He hates what he must do. Marcos holds onto what life used to be like and reminisces constantly on what life was like before The Transition. It is through Marcos’ point-of-view that we discovery everything about this new world as he goes about his work. Instead of having Marcos explain everything to the reader, Bazterrica simply has us existing in this world as is, learning about it through Marcos’ daily life. It works extremely well to keep the narrative moving forward and tension taut because we don’t know what we don’t know. Every time I thought surely it cannot get worse, it does. It always does. And because we’re simply immersed without that distance of having someone explain every little thing to us, without that voice of reason we can truly hold onto and identify with, it ramps up the horror and disturbance because of how truly cavalier and nonchalant everyone that would in theory be our peers is about all of this.
The social commentary is overwhelming and abundant. Just when I think I’ve wrung everything I can, I find more things to talk about, different strands that can be pulled for allegory. The writing is rich with meaning and the lack of emotion in the narrative only increases the depth of it the reader feels. The plot is solid and makes absolute sense. For some reason, I saw a few reviews that didn’t see that ending coming, but it felt like the natural conclusion to everything.
Reviewing Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica without spoilers and without going as deep and critical thinking as I need to has been extremely difficult. I want to talk so much about this and how amazing it is, but it is hard to do in a simple review. It is hard to write a simple review in general for this book because the material is so heavy that it almost seems above simple star ratings. Do I think everyone should read this? Yes. Do I think everyone can read this? Absolutely not. It is a book that does not give you a single moment of respite and the subject matter simple gets worse and worse with every turn of the page. It is also brilliant satire and allegory. It is poignant and horrible and terrific. If you can stomach really horrible subject matter and want to read something you have to think about because it will literally not leave you, pick this up. If you want to read material you can engage with and have others that are willing to read and discuss this with you, pick this up. If you’re looking for something ephemeral, don’t pick this up. If you just want to read for fun or as a pastime without working at critical thought, don’t pick this up. If you can’t handle the literal absolute worst of humanity in every sense of the word, do NOT pick this up.