Fava beans and chianti?

Tender is the Flesh

by Agustina Bazterrica

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Trigger Warning: If you have a sensitive stomach or are triggered by disgusting and/or immoral practices, do not read this book.

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Written in Spanish by Argentinian author Agustina Bazterrica and translated by Sarah Moses, Tender is the Flesh is the story of Marcos Tejos. 

Marcos lives in a near-future dystopian society. A virus sweeps the world and infects every animal. Every single animal is destroyed. Humanity turns to cannibalism as a food source. Humans are mass-produced, slaughtered, and sold as "special meat." Marcos works for a "processing plant," where the humans are slaughtered and prepared for sale. The process is presented in gruesome detail, but to the participants, it's just another process. 

"He’s surprised it’s so quiet. El Gringo tells him they’re isolated in incubators from when they’re little, and later on in cages. He says their vocal cords are removed so they’re easier to control. 'No one wants them to talk because meat doesn’t talk,' he says."

Just outside the plant where Marcos works are a group called Scavengers. These are the poorest of the poor who wait for the scraps of "special meat." Thus it becomes clear that there are three classes of people: the privileged, the meat, and the scavengers. 

We learn that Marcos is unhappy. His wife leaves him after the death of their infant son. He has to slaughter his beloved pet dogs because all animals became illegal. His father is in a nursing home, suffering from dementia. His sister is self-obsessed and brainless. Marcos goes through his life in a sort of fog. As I was reading about him, I began to think that the horrors that Marcos participated in were driving him mad - or at the very least, would cause him to rebel in some way. (Spoiler: Not so much)

A supplier gives Marcos a special gift - a female specimen of the best quality. He tells Marcos he can sell the specimen for a tidy profit, or he could slaughter her for her high-quality meat. Marcos decides to keep her, raising her like a prize calf. They develop a kind of relationship, and he moves her from the barn into his house. Marcos names the female "Jasmine." They regularly have sex and Jasmine becomes pregnant. He hides her away because having sex with "meat" is highly illegal. 

Each situation Marcos finds himself in is more brutal and terrifying than the last, including a human-skin tannery and a human game reserve. He visits an abandoned zoo and finds a litter of abandoned puppies. He bonds with the pups and gives each the name of a member of the Rolling Stones. On his next visit to the zoo, some delinquents have gotten ahold of the pups and Marcos watches them murder each one. 

The unrelenting violence and perversion continue to the end of the book. The ending is shocking and unexpected but completely in keeping with the events leading up to it. 

This is an incredibly disturbing and grotesque book. I rated it four stars because it is so thought-provoking. It brings up the cruelty in our own society, factory farming, societal privileges, and more.