Reviews

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

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jacksonfj8's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

cyntheeez's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

2.5 stars rounded up. This had shock value due to the premise of humans being used as "meat" and slaughtered much like animals are. However, there was not really any plot, it didn't go anywhere. We just read for hours and hours about the meat processing plant and how people use these bred-humans for sex and meat. It's gross for sure, but nothing really special about this as a book or story. I wouldn't recommend spending money on this nor many hours --- if you're interested, rent the audiobook from libby and listen on at least 2x speed for minimal investment.

hjeilani's review

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

randalena's review

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challenging dark sad

Loveable characters? No

4.0

Did I like this book? No. Did I listen to it in almost one sitting? Yes.
Am I disturbed by meat processing in general? Yes. Making it “special meat” didn’t change that.
The audiobook narrator gets a whole star to themselves for the whole talking with his mouth full of special meat sandwich scene.
Did I call the ending as soon as Jasmine showed up? Yes. And I hated it.

livist's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

That ending is haunting.

I am reeling from this book.

Horrified, disturbed and yet so engrossed in the whole time.

Not a full 5 stars due to

the puppies

marcos’s journey throughout this book is so interesting. He comes across as this guy who has a strong moral compass framed often as he’s forced in a situation that he doesn’t agree with. Due to his profession he has to see the most horrific parts of how factory farming effects the, “heads,”/humans. The process follows the money and people have more or less forgotten what life was like, what humanity was like before the transition.

This books feels like propaganda for being a vegan which honestly I get. The author does a good job of fleshing (ha!) out how this stuff would work and Marcos is certainly feeling the emotional toll of his job especially as his personal life has deteriorated. Estranged from his wife and his family.

I was glad that he finally told his sister what he thought of her, she was annoying.

In the end, Marcos is just like any other person in this society. Using the head to get what he wants at the cost of their humanity.

The puppies thing I could have done without though.

Content Warnings