ARC Review of Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

I received an ARC of Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica and translated by Sarah Moses. The premise is a dystopian world where animals are contaminated with a deadly virus forcing humans to eradicate them and look toward a new protein source; humans raised for slaughter. With that description in mind, I knew this would be a dark book but I was not fully prepared for how nauseating and vile this book would be. I literally felt like throwing up every time I picked this book back up and the ending was so shocking that I burst into tears.

Content warnings for cannibalism, graphic animal violence, rape, branding, slavery, and dismemberment.

The story follows Marcos who is floundering after the death of his infant son. He works in a human processing plant and justifies his job because he needs to money to look after his ailing father. He looks down on people who eat "special meat" and feels morally superior. However, midway through the book, he starts making awful choices (including eating people) that show he is no better than the cannibals. I felt the author was sending incredibly mixed signals. As a satire, it would've felt stronger if Marcos would've made consistent choices.

Something I felt missing was the option to be vegan. It is mentioned in passing that there are some "veganoids" but because that option wasn't really explored, it made it harder for me to buy in that people would immediately resort to cannibalism.

The writing was very simple. "There are trees outside the cage, and he leaves it to walk beneath them. It's a hot day and the sky is clear. The trees provide a bit of shade. He's sweating." Oftentimes, the author (or translator) chose to use pronouns instead of names, making it confusing who they were referring to. I had to reread paragraphs using context to figure out who she was referring to.

Because the writing wasn't strong, the descriptions were horrifying, and the satire message was muddled, I ended up giving the book 2 stars. I feel this book should be marketed as horror rather than dystopian. People who like to read terrifying books might be the only ones who would enjoy this story.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for a honest review. This book will be published August 4, 2020.