A review by randanopterix
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

dark tense slow-paced

1.0

Not sure a book has ever pissed me off this bad. It's commentary is shallow, it's timeline nonsensical, it's violence juvenile, it's ""twist" insulting. If I could compare it to another piece of media that most closely resembles it in tone it would be Elfin Lied (somehow they even share puppy slaughter with each other).

This is not going to be organized but here is a list of grievances I have with this book. Please keep in mind that my issues with the book have nothing to do with being opposed to violence and difficult topics being depicted or discussed in media and I do not have a delicate disposition that can't handle violent or emotionally taxing topics. Spoilers from here on out.

  • Everyone in this book is comedically evil, like mustache-twirling, no-depth, tying-girls-to-train-tracks evil. From the meat factory workers to the regular civilians. The book positions the main character as literally the only free thinker in the entire world even though, per the timeline, him and hundreds of thousands of other people in this society remember the before times. The book tries to simultaneously convince you that the people in this world are uncomfortable and in denial about the reality of eating human beings, but in the same breath will describe:
    •  fairs where they display human cattle and judge them for "Best in Show"
    • Fashion designers creating coats and jackets from human skin (specifically black human skin is specified)
    • The Japanese factory director (this is the only Asian person in this story) who collects human skin as a hobby (he is also looking for black human skin to collect by the way)
    • appetizers that are made of unaltered human ears and fingers. You would think if people were uncomfortable with eating human beings that they would be queasy about munching on some fingers and toes.
    • wealthy people who hunt human cattle for sport (there is a photograph of one of these hunters hunting black people in Africa before the transition. There's a pattern happening here)
      • sidenote on the wealthy people who hunt human cattle for sport: They also hunt FAMOUS PEOPLE who have debt. In my opinion this is a death-dealing blow to the idea that this book is about the subjugation of a lower class. There hardly anyone on earth that holds more social capital than famous celebrities. If this world is apparently so uncomfortable with eating human meat that they assigned a subclass of human beings for it, then how do they reconcile the murder of a famous person for sport?
    • The graverobbing and consuming of people NOT considered human cattle. You would think if people were in such deep denial about where their meat was coming from (the subjugated lower class designated for consumption) that they wouldn't be eating grandma!!! 
  • As you could probably imply, the book has weird racial undertones. Any character that is not (presumably) Argentinian is described race-first and is either a slavering psychopath (for the one Asian guy) or a victim (If you are black in this book, you are either a disembodied head or disembodied skin. That's it). If I am being as generous as possible, I would say this comes off as incredibly trashy. At best. This book constantly gives the impression of the author leaning in with a cocked eyebrow and going "Isn't that soooo fucked up".
  • This is a personal preference thing, but I really dislike the prose. I'm going to post a quote that actually made me laugh out loud: "She keeps talking, as she always does, giving him the same marketing team speech, using words that flow like lava from a volcano that doesn't stop erupting, only it's lava that's cold and viscous. They're words that stick to one's body and all he feels is repulsion." Run-on sentence aside. So if I'm to try and interpret this sentence.... her words are like lava - which I would assume would be burning and painful words - from a volcano that doesn't stop erupting - so searing words from her mouth that never shuts up i suppose - only it's lava that's cold and viscous - okay so it's actually NOT like lava - they're words that stick to one's body and all he feels is repulsion - so they are COLD words that stick to his body and gross him out. So why were we talking about lava?????? Hate it when I am struck with the Icy Word-Lava of Despair. 
  • As mentioned earlier, there are people in this book that remember the before times, that were adults in the before times. So tell me why old ladies think that birds are violent? Like yes, propaganda is a powerful thing, but a senile old woman may very well still think of animals and birds as friends. Especially if they lived most of their lives in a society that didn't kill all animals so they could eat people. Insane that apparently the main character is the only one mentally liberated enough to remember that dogs and birds are mostly chill.
  • I found the twist at the end of the story to be genuinely insulting. Throughout the book, the main character is positioned as the only sane person in this world of maniacs. Early in the story he is gifted a human woman designated as cattle. He doesn't want to kill her and doesn't want to send her away and so he keeps her trapped in his house. Simultaneously, we are told about how the MC has all of this built up trauma over him and his wife trying and failing for years to conceive a child. Once they finally succeeded in having a child, the child died. So more than anything, MC wants a baby. Him and the human cattle woman who he has named "Jasmine" have presumably fallen in love. She cannot speak (she has no vocal chords) and he keeps her locked in the house, providing her crayons and tv to keep her entertained. He gets her pregnant. She clings to him, follows him around the house, and is submissive to him when he wants attention or sex. The "twist" at the end of the story is that he executes her as soon as she gives birth to their child. The MC and his wife go on to raise it. The book expects me to be shocked. Once again I feel like the author is leaning in and going "don't you feel so suprised? He was supposed to be the sane one!! Didn't you think he loved her?" And no I did not!!! For this to be any kind of rug pull, I would have to think that the main character was sane or decent. The author must think I am either stupid or just as bad a person as the MC to brush off the fact that he infantilized her, imprisoned her, and raped her. The author clearly intends for me to relate to main character and be shocked at how callously he murdered Jasmine as a way of saying to me "see? You could be this person too, under the right circumstances." And NO I WOULD NOT. I have been disgusted by his actions and annoyed by his internal monologue since page one, I have no problem believing that he would kill her. He's clearly not a good person. 
 

I reject the premise of this book. I think it's a failure of commentary against capitalism, classism, or collectivism. Flimsy in it's world-buildingand tacky in it's violence. It's morals are dubious at best and I found my intelligence insulted by the end. Bad book, hated it, genuinely don't know what people see in this other than it being titillating and scandalous. It's not a fraction as deep as it thinks it is.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings