Tender Is the Flesh

Agustina Bazterrica

Aug 2020 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this eBook

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.

Ratings and reviews

started out intriguing. I was captivated, but in a way someone Is when driving past a bad car crash. you can't help but read this out of some morbid curiosity. halfway through the intrigue falls apart and the novel unravels. I felt like the author had a hard time deciding how to end this. the characters are all awful except the Main character. he's the one person in this book that actually like because he has his humanity still. then the book ends. your left hating everyone in it. it's morbid. dark. ultimately it falls flat on its face though, with no real direction.

A terrifying story of societal consent and compliance with madness. The author elaborates the horrible trickle-down effect capitalism does to a family man with the legalization of cannibalism when hit with a plague; from the stockyards, the killing floor, to big game hunting and unessecary laboratory testing, those who preside etch away at the narrator's sanity with their sadistic and psychopathic tendencies that make them powerful in this world with no one questioning their true nature. But the biggest horror is the indifference the people see themselves in their "livestock," with them trying to blend in to social standards on a consumer level. Do not see this as the authors attempt to persuade a vegan lifestyle with flipping the script, but rather how depraved humanity can be in justifying survival.

Absolutely loved this book. I have been struggling to get back into reading but this kept me turning pages. The ending is surprising, and a bit too quick, but fitting for the main character IMO. Super interesting concept as well, a society in which humans live, while also having separate humans treated just like livestock.

About the author

Agustina Bazterrica, born in Buenos Aires in 1974, has a degree in arts from the University of Buenos Aires and works as a cultural manager and jury member in various literary contests. She is the author of the short story collection Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, and the novels Matar al niña and Tender Is the Flesh, the latter of which was awarded the Clarín Novel Prize. Tender Is the Flesh established Bazterrica as a bestselling author worldwide, with translations into thirty languages and half a million copies sold in English alone. Tender Is the Flesh is currently being adapted for television. Her latest novel, The Unworthy, was published in Spanish in 2023 and received the same enthusiastic reception as Tender Is the Flesh, affirming Bazterrica’s status as a prominent author in contemporary literature.

Sarah Moses is a Canadian writer and translator from French and Spanish. She has translated work by Latin American authors including Tomás Downey and Ariana Harwicz, whose novel Die, My Love was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Premio Valle Inclán, and the Best Translated Book Award. The Unworthy is the third of Agustina Bazterrica’s books she has translated into English. Her collection of short fiction, Strange Water, will be published in the fall of 2024.