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Easy Meat
The south Wales Valleys, 23rd June, 2016. It’s another long day chopping beef carcasses up at the slaughterhouse for former reality TV star and Iron Man contender, Caleb Jenkins, whose untroubled world unravelled when his old man’s carpet business went bust last year, another casualty of the global financial crisis.
180 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 15, 2021
I was 18 the first time I went to the South Wales valleys, in October 2004. Specifically, it was the Rhondda. I went back to my new uni girlfriend's family home in Tonypandy for the weekend, to meet her parents for the first time. After a couple of days eating heavy meals and slowly trying to charm them with my westcountry cheek, we set off back to university in Swansea. Five minutes after departing that typical valleys town, we edged over a ridge and drove a mountain road flanked by death-defying drops. Roaring waterfalls plundered down ancient rockfaces, sheep grazed lazily at the grassy roadside, the gulleys and gulches fell dramatically all around. I hadn't witnessed natural beauty like it. I kept asking her parents to stop and let me take photos on my disposable camera to show my dad. It was like I'd discovered some secret the Welsh were keeping from the English.
Over the next decade and more, I would go back to the Rhondda hundreds of times (we are now married with two children, though much of her family has now moved away from the area). Every occasion was bookended by the same glorious drive. The people were warm and friendly to a level I haven't encountered anywhere else. But, the longer I spent there, the more you could see this place was no Eden. The deprivation became more evident with each passing year. This was a place abandoned by industry, by employers, by politics.
Rachel Trezise's new novel, Easy Meat, brings this clash of beauty and abandonment to the fore. It follows a day in the life of Caleb Jenkins, an ex-reality TV star now working the boning line at a slaughterhouse to keep his family afloat. His family carpet business has gone bust and his parents and brother have had to move in with him.
This is no ordinary day either. 23 June, 2016. Brexit vote day.
Caleb negotiates his day with the resigned stoicism of the contemporary working class, while politics swirls all around him. His apathy on Brexit is evident, though he's surrounded by self-declared experts on the subject, as well as scores of European workers at the slaughterhouse. How can he not be apathetic? When would he have the time or inclination to educate himself about it? He's trapped by The Machine. As the day comes to a conclusion, the country is on the verge of a momentous decision and Caleb has hardly given it much thought.
Trezise has delivered a sublime portrait of Welsh working class life. She presents the clashing polarisation of the national moment with care and devoid of judgement, preferring to listen and understand rather than opine. Her ear for the rhythms and cadence of Valleys speak is excellent and she blends comic elements perfectly with the underlying bleakness of Caleb's situation. Running through it all, however, are the striving working class people, Welsh and European alike, just trying to make things better for themselves and their families; people used as tokenistic political pawns far too often in recent years.
This is the Brexit novel we've been waiting for.
Over the next decade and more, I would go back to the Rhondda hundreds of times (we are now married with two children, though much of her family has now moved away from the area). Every occasion was bookended by the same glorious drive. The people were warm and friendly to a level I haven't encountered anywhere else. But, the longer I spent there, the more you could see this place was no Eden. The deprivation became more evident with each passing year. This was a place abandoned by industry, by employers, by politics.
Rachel Trezise's new novel, Easy Meat, brings this clash of beauty and abandonment to the fore. It follows a day in the life of Caleb Jenkins, an ex-reality TV star now working the boning line at a slaughterhouse to keep his family afloat. His family carpet business has gone bust and his parents and brother have had to move in with him.
This is no ordinary day either. 23 June, 2016. Brexit vote day.
Caleb negotiates his day with the resigned stoicism of the contemporary working class, while politics swirls all around him. His apathy on Brexit is evident, though he's surrounded by self-declared experts on the subject, as well as scores of European workers at the slaughterhouse. How can he not be apathetic? When would he have the time or inclination to educate himself about it? He's trapped by The Machine. As the day comes to a conclusion, the country is on the verge of a momentous decision and Caleb has hardly given it much thought.
Trezise has delivered a sublime portrait of Welsh working class life. She presents the clashing polarisation of the national moment with care and devoid of judgement, preferring to listen and understand rather than opine. Her ear for the rhythms and cadence of Valleys speak is excellent and she blends comic elements perfectly with the underlying bleakness of Caleb's situation. Running through it all, however, are the striving working class people, Welsh and European alike, just trying to make things better for themselves and their families; people used as tokenistic political pawns far too often in recent years.
This is the Brexit novel we've been waiting for.
August 4, 2021
At only 121 pages long this is a punchy longish short story/novella.
Easy Meat tells the story of a day in the life of Valley Boy Caleb Jenkins. The day in question just happens to be the day of the Brexit referendum. Caleb is a man on the verge of a breakdown. He is struggling with his awful, low paid job in a slaughterhouse, where the rest of the workers are Polish immigrants. He is wilting under the pressure of sharing his home with his now bankrupt and homeless parents and weed addicted layabout brother. On top of this he has real girlfriend and child issues to contend with. He just needs a little something to help him turn the corner, just an opportunity to get back to normal.
For me there are a few little niggles with this novella. While the Merthyr setting is integral to the story I found the overuse of street and neighbourhood names to be a little distracting as was the ongoing description of butchering beef carcasses. While I understand that this was used as a counterpoint while Caleb's story was told in flash-back I thought the carcass dissection scenes were overdone. After reading this you may well sway away from eating meat. I don't know but would hazard a guess that the author is a vegetarian. and lastly I did not quite "get" the ending. Again these are subjective and probably say more about me than the writing.
Being a Valley Boy myself (I may have mentioned that before 🙄🙈) the area where I thought the author was absolutely bang on was in describing the socio-political malaise that now overwhelms the once proud working class, once labour voting valleys. The Valleys were the area that benefit most from European investment but still voted in favour of Brexit. She is very clever in that she does not do this by using macro-political policy statements, indeed politics is hardly mentioned overtly at all, but by describing the micro day-to-day encounters that Caleb and his family have. You see the frustration that had caused a gap in the market that UKIP and Brexit exploited. It seems that while most people voted Brexit not for ideological reasons but because the status quo just was not working. You are left feeling that there is a lack of opportunity and an inevitability that this festering social inertia will continue.
The author brings a caustic description these encounters that is savagely sarcastic and well observed, (and with a hint of Raymond Chandler read in Humphrey Bogart's voice) see selected quotes. Any senior figure in the labour party (or indeed Plaid Cymru) would do well to read this book. It is a Welsh Boys from the Blackstuff for the Love Island generation.
Finally, I know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover but this cover is a belter.
from @grumpyoldbooks
Easy Meat tells the story of a day in the life of Valley Boy Caleb Jenkins. The day in question just happens to be the day of the Brexit referendum. Caleb is a man on the verge of a breakdown. He is struggling with his awful, low paid job in a slaughterhouse, where the rest of the workers are Polish immigrants. He is wilting under the pressure of sharing his home with his now bankrupt and homeless parents and weed addicted layabout brother. On top of this he has real girlfriend and child issues to contend with. He just needs a little something to help him turn the corner, just an opportunity to get back to normal.
For me there are a few little niggles with this novella. While the Merthyr setting is integral to the story I found the overuse of street and neighbourhood names to be a little distracting as was the ongoing description of butchering beef carcasses. While I understand that this was used as a counterpoint while Caleb's story was told in flash-back I thought the carcass dissection scenes were overdone. After reading this you may well sway away from eating meat. I don't know but would hazard a guess that the author is a vegetarian. and lastly I did not quite "get" the ending. Again these are subjective and probably say more about me than the writing.
Being a Valley Boy myself (I may have mentioned that before 🙄🙈) the area where I thought the author was absolutely bang on was in describing the socio-political malaise that now overwhelms the once proud working class, once labour voting valleys. The Valleys were the area that benefit most from European investment but still voted in favour of Brexit. She is very clever in that she does not do this by using macro-political policy statements, indeed politics is hardly mentioned overtly at all, but by describing the micro day-to-day encounters that Caleb and his family have. You see the frustration that had caused a gap in the market that UKIP and Brexit exploited. It seems that while most people voted Brexit not for ideological reasons but because the status quo just was not working. You are left feeling that there is a lack of opportunity and an inevitability that this festering social inertia will continue.
The author brings a caustic description these encounters that is savagely sarcastic and well observed, (and with a hint of Raymond Chandler read in Humphrey Bogart's voice) see selected quotes. Any senior figure in the labour party (or indeed Plaid Cymru) would do well to read this book. It is a Welsh Boys from the Blackstuff for the Love Island generation.
Finally, I know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover but this cover is a belter.
from @grumpyoldbooks
February 16, 2021
I’m the first person to review this book on GR, so I’ll try to expand on the somewhat laconic official description.
No such thing as easy meat. Though vegetarians beware, this novel spends way too much time in a slaughterhouse, in graphic detail. The latter is necessary to create the scene, it’s a melting pot of immigrants and some locals, working a sh*t job in an economically depressed area of Wales on Brexit vote day.
The protagonist is a young man who, despite all the early promise and potential, now finds himself down in the dumps, his athletic career stalled, his family’s carpet business gone and both of his parents and his unemployed conspiracy theorist brother are living with him and on his dime and possibly the most devastating of all, a monumental personal devastation including a lying manipulative ex and a situation that resulted in a public scandal.
Far cry from a fit 22 year old marathoner who starred on a reality tv show. Now his only option is the slaughterhouse, a job that slays him physically and mentally. Though the sanest and most progressive of his entire family, life’s just too trying and change’s just too tempting. So how does someone like that vote on a decision that’ll change the course of the entire country? And why?
That’s the novel, essentially. Short and poignant, it’s a portrait of a young man as a…well, beaten down young man. And much like a good portrait, it provides an excellent depiction of a moment in time, but one that’s informed by all that’s come before it. And it is effective as such. The character engages, the writing engages, it provides quite an immersive reading experience.
Plus I enjoyed the fact that it was based in Wales, something different, fascinating mostly by the sheer power of scenery and the bizarre linguistic convolutions. I mean, that’s how I imagine dyslexia would look like if it became a written language. It’s like vowels and consonants are at war with each other. Or some elaborate dance.
Anyway…the thing until 2020 struck Brexit was the most interesting political snafu taking place in a first world country…or it would have been had US not stepped in and stole the show in such a horrifying fashion. So I’ve read a lot about it, in the news, nonfiction books, etc. and it was interesting to read about it in fictional form, because for me this was very much a Brexit novel as opposed to, say, a character drama. And so I’m glad I read it, though that was way, way too much time was spent in an abattoir. Really, any amount of time would have bene too much, but that was above and beyond and so freaking detailed, too detailed. Yes, it was meant to highlight the brutality of the job and of protagonist’s life, but…oh…brutal.
And I suppose the book is brutal too, the way the world beats people down and makes easy meat of them. So not a happy read by any means, but good literary drama with political significance. Thanks Netgalley.
No such thing as easy meat. Though vegetarians beware, this novel spends way too much time in a slaughterhouse, in graphic detail. The latter is necessary to create the scene, it’s a melting pot of immigrants and some locals, working a sh*t job in an economically depressed area of Wales on Brexit vote day.
The protagonist is a young man who, despite all the early promise and potential, now finds himself down in the dumps, his athletic career stalled, his family’s carpet business gone and both of his parents and his unemployed conspiracy theorist brother are living with him and on his dime and possibly the most devastating of all, a monumental personal devastation including a lying manipulative ex and a situation that resulted in a public scandal.
Far cry from a fit 22 year old marathoner who starred on a reality tv show. Now his only option is the slaughterhouse, a job that slays him physically and mentally. Though the sanest and most progressive of his entire family, life’s just too trying and change’s just too tempting. So how does someone like that vote on a decision that’ll change the course of the entire country? And why?
That’s the novel, essentially. Short and poignant, it’s a portrait of a young man as a…well, beaten down young man. And much like a good portrait, it provides an excellent depiction of a moment in time, but one that’s informed by all that’s come before it. And it is effective as such. The character engages, the writing engages, it provides quite an immersive reading experience.
Plus I enjoyed the fact that it was based in Wales, something different, fascinating mostly by the sheer power of scenery and the bizarre linguistic convolutions. I mean, that’s how I imagine dyslexia would look like if it became a written language. It’s like vowels and consonants are at war with each other. Or some elaborate dance.
Anyway…the thing until 2020 struck Brexit was the most interesting political snafu taking place in a first world country…or it would have been had US not stepped in and stole the show in such a horrifying fashion. So I’ve read a lot about it, in the news, nonfiction books, etc. and it was interesting to read about it in fictional form, because for me this was very much a Brexit novel as opposed to, say, a character drama. And so I’m glad I read it, though that was way, way too much time was spent in an abattoir. Really, any amount of time would have bene too much, but that was above and beyond and so freaking detailed, too detailed. Yes, it was meant to highlight the brutality of the job and of protagonist’s life, but…oh…brutal.
And I suppose the book is brutal too, the way the world beats people down and makes easy meat of them. So not a happy read by any means, but good literary drama with political significance. Thanks Netgalley.
August 16, 2021
It’s the day of the Brexit referendum but Caleb Jenkins doesn’t think he’s going to vote. Employed as a butcher in a slaughterhouse in the South Wales valleys alongside a largely Polish workforce, he’s more concerned with hanging onto his job and regaining his physical fitness so he can win the Swansea triathlon in September. Winning the 18-24 category in the Ironman five years before made him a temporary celebrity and Welsh reality TV star, but his victory also led to heartbreak when he was deceived by a girlfriend who wanted to keep him at any cost. Now he’s trying to support his unemployed family and ‘get back to the point in his life when he’d been winning’, but everything seems to be stacked against him.
I’ve read a couple of brilliant novels recently that deal with the meat industry (Ruth Gilligan’s The Butchers, Ruth Ozeki’s My Year of Meats) and Rachel Trezise’s novella Easy Meat is no exception, although here the slaughterhouse largely acts as a backdrop, demonstrating the brutal physicality of Caleb’s working life, rather than raising any ethical questions about meat consumption and quality. Easy Meat has also been described as an exploration of why so many chose to vote Leave, but what’s so impressive about Trezise’s take on the referendum is that Brexit very much fades into the background. Caleb ends up filling in his ballot at the very last minute, and while we can guess which way his vote went – ‘ “Remain” meant that everything would stay the same but “Leave” meant something had to change’ – we aren’t actually told. Nor does he share the typical characteristics of stereotyped Brexit voters, demonstrating solidarity with his Polish workmates and actually envying the close bonds they have with each other.
If I had a reservation about Trezise’s portrayal of Brexit in this novella, it’s that it plays a little into the idea that the Leave vote was driven primarily by ‘left-behind’ working-class voters, when this has been debunked. Nevertheless, there’s much more to Easy Meat than its Brexit narrative; it’s a vivid snapshot of one day in a young man’s life as he tries to accelerate into his future but seems to already be slowing to a halt.
I received a free proof copy of this novella from the publisher for review.
I’ve read a couple of brilliant novels recently that deal with the meat industry (Ruth Gilligan’s The Butchers, Ruth Ozeki’s My Year of Meats) and Rachel Trezise’s novella Easy Meat is no exception, although here the slaughterhouse largely acts as a backdrop, demonstrating the brutal physicality of Caleb’s working life, rather than raising any ethical questions about meat consumption and quality. Easy Meat has also been described as an exploration of why so many chose to vote Leave, but what’s so impressive about Trezise’s take on the referendum is that Brexit very much fades into the background. Caleb ends up filling in his ballot at the very last minute, and while we can guess which way his vote went – ‘ “Remain” meant that everything would stay the same but “Leave” meant something had to change’ – we aren’t actually told. Nor does he share the typical characteristics of stereotyped Brexit voters, demonstrating solidarity with his Polish workmates and actually envying the close bonds they have with each other.
If I had a reservation about Trezise’s portrayal of Brexit in this novella, it’s that it plays a little into the idea that the Leave vote was driven primarily by ‘left-behind’ working-class voters, when this has been debunked. Nevertheless, there’s much more to Easy Meat than its Brexit narrative; it’s a vivid snapshot of one day in a young man’s life as he tries to accelerate into his future but seems to already be slowing to a halt.
I received a free proof copy of this novella from the publisher for review.
March 7, 2024
Class. Wedi joio mas draw
September 4, 2021
I loved this book. I wanted to, which made reading it a little more tense, for personal reasons; but I am delighted that hopes and expectations were more than fulfilled.
I've been aware of Rachel Tresize for a little while as the "authentic voice of the valleys" and have enjoyed her reading at an open mic event a few years ago. I am glad to report that you should believe the hype. This is a courageous and honest novel which deserves mentioning alongside other scribes of working class life. There were shades of Steinbeck and Sillitoe for certain but also, and relevantly, The Jam and the Manic Street Preachers.
The song, Saturday's Kids by The Jam, pretty much changed my life when I was 13-ish and this novel felt similar, now I'm 55.
The writing is visceral and vital but also lyrical, witty and poignant. The characters are recognisable but a long way from stereotypical. In the hands of a lesser writer some of the more ridiculous aspects of Mam's snobbish affectations, Savannah's New Age nonsense and cosmetic excesses, Mason's stoner-fuelled internet theories could be cartoonish; here though, each character has sufficient, intelligence, self-awareness and depth to deserve and retain our sympathies. Mason is recognisable too, with his fitness and nutrition, his credit score and his family loyalties battling with fear, loathing of his odious supervisor and plentiful insecurities. Descriptions of urine, vomit, halitosis and the sinews of meat carcasses grapple with the senses, alongside lyrical descriptions of the Rhondda landscape at dawn and dusk. We get into Caleb's head, heart and soul as we go through his day in the life, with bursts of memory filling in the blanks of his recent past.
It reminds me of James Kelman for the stream of consciousness, wit and tenderness, but this is a novel with Welshness ingrained, from dialect to street names and train destinations. It's spot on.
As a middle-aged man, I found the character of dad, particularly moving. Set adrift by austerity and changing tastes in floorings, he wants to be a voice of wisdom and an example to his sons but finds himself increasingly bewildered by 2016 - as many of us felt, and still feel.
This isn't a Brexit novel but takes place on polling day for the (in)famous referendum. The date pokes its nose in occasionally as characters discuss their choices. We never learn Caleb's choice, although I think I can guess, but there's no judgement or despair here. It reflects the anxieties and instincts of the people left behind by Blair, Brown, Cameron, Osborne: overlooked and despised and vulnerable to fear , insecurity and nostalgia.
The only other Brexit novel I have read featured a middle class novelist solving his angst by buying an idyllic property in rural France. No chance of that happening for these characters, who I can't stop thinking about.
This is a terrific book and I'd be grateful for recommendations for anything similar. Needless to say, I recommend it. I'll be reading more of Rachel's work and probably returning to the previously mentioned writers as this is what contemporary fiction should be doing. If Alan Silitoe defined Saturday and Sunday in Nottingham in the early 1960s, this is Monday in the Rhondda in the late 2010s.
I've been aware of Rachel Tresize for a little while as the "authentic voice of the valleys" and have enjoyed her reading at an open mic event a few years ago. I am glad to report that you should believe the hype. This is a courageous and honest novel which deserves mentioning alongside other scribes of working class life. There were shades of Steinbeck and Sillitoe for certain but also, and relevantly, The Jam and the Manic Street Preachers.
The song, Saturday's Kids by The Jam, pretty much changed my life when I was 13-ish and this novel felt similar, now I'm 55.
The writing is visceral and vital but also lyrical, witty and poignant. The characters are recognisable but a long way from stereotypical. In the hands of a lesser writer some of the more ridiculous aspects of Mam's snobbish affectations, Savannah's New Age nonsense and cosmetic excesses, Mason's stoner-fuelled internet theories could be cartoonish; here though, each character has sufficient, intelligence, self-awareness and depth to deserve and retain our sympathies. Mason is recognisable too, with his fitness and nutrition, his credit score and his family loyalties battling with fear, loathing of his odious supervisor and plentiful insecurities. Descriptions of urine, vomit, halitosis and the sinews of meat carcasses grapple with the senses, alongside lyrical descriptions of the Rhondda landscape at dawn and dusk. We get into Caleb's head, heart and soul as we go through his day in the life, with bursts of memory filling in the blanks of his recent past.
It reminds me of James Kelman for the stream of consciousness, wit and tenderness, but this is a novel with Welshness ingrained, from dialect to street names and train destinations. It's spot on.
As a middle-aged man, I found the character of dad, particularly moving. Set adrift by austerity and changing tastes in floorings, he wants to be a voice of wisdom and an example to his sons but finds himself increasingly bewildered by 2016 - as many of us felt, and still feel.
This isn't a Brexit novel but takes place on polling day for the (in)famous referendum. The date pokes its nose in occasionally as characters discuss their choices. We never learn Caleb's choice, although I think I can guess, but there's no judgement or despair here. It reflects the anxieties and instincts of the people left behind by Blair, Brown, Cameron, Osborne: overlooked and despised and vulnerable to fear , insecurity and nostalgia.
The only other Brexit novel I have read featured a middle class novelist solving his angst by buying an idyllic property in rural France. No chance of that happening for these characters, who I can't stop thinking about.
This is a terrific book and I'd be grateful for recommendations for anything similar. Needless to say, I recommend it. I'll be reading more of Rachel's work and probably returning to the previously mentioned writers as this is what contemporary fiction should be doing. If Alan Silitoe defined Saturday and Sunday in Nottingham in the early 1960s, this is Monday in the Rhondda in the late 2010s.
February 7, 2022
It is Brexit day, but for Caleb , a former reality star and athlete, it is just another day grinding away at the meat factory, coping with his own personal crises, dreaming of a better life and reflecting on the events that left him uncertainly clinging on to the cliff edge of his respectability.
In this expertly composed and beautifully written novella, Caleb's life is a reflection of the proud, but downtrodden community he inhabits, and his hand-to-mouth existence, the disappointments of his past, his belief that there is something better out there, a change that will transform his fortunes, is a metaphor for Brexit itself and the reasons why the valley communities voted to leave the EU.
There are some key passages:
'Ebbw Vale.'
Caleb laughed. 'Isn't that like a turkey voting for Christmas? All that money you've had from them.' he said, repeating a phrase he'd heard from an audience member on Question Time. Ebbw Vale had had more EU money than anywhere else in Wales.
'I don't give a shit about their money,' the bloke said. 'That's just refurbishment not regeneration. Nonsense and fripperies.' Caleb laughed at this old-fashioned-sounding phrase. 'A town clock that's never right,' the man continued. 'And a shiny statue of the dragon that they put on a patch of derelict land behind Bank Square. Twenty-two grand that statue cost, and on the day they unveiled it, the council closed every public khazi in the town. What do they want us to do? Piss in the dragon's mouth?'
And then there is the viewpoint of management:
'Well, we're recommending as a company that you choose to vote remain,' Morris said. 'Those numpties on the news can keep banging on about sovereignty all they like but the fact remains: no migrants, no meat industry. Simple as that.' Two Portugese women waggled through the strip curtain. Morris looked up at the clock. 'Most people have no idea how the world works,' he said. 'Who do they think is going to pick their lettuce if the Romanians have to go home? Only one per cent of seasonal farm workers are Brits. Let that sink in.'
Even as a strong remainer and a pro-European I might have voted to leave if I was Caleb. This is an evocative and powerful book, with detailed descriptive passages, not for the faint-hearted (or vegetarians), with strongly drawn and realistic characters. Highly recommended.
In this expertly composed and beautifully written novella, Caleb's life is a reflection of the proud, but downtrodden community he inhabits, and his hand-to-mouth existence, the disappointments of his past, his belief that there is something better out there, a change that will transform his fortunes, is a metaphor for Brexit itself and the reasons why the valley communities voted to leave the EU.
There are some key passages:
'Ebbw Vale.'
Caleb laughed. 'Isn't that like a turkey voting for Christmas? All that money you've had from them.' he said, repeating a phrase he'd heard from an audience member on Question Time. Ebbw Vale had had more EU money than anywhere else in Wales.
'I don't give a shit about their money,' the bloke said. 'That's just refurbishment not regeneration. Nonsense and fripperies.' Caleb laughed at this old-fashioned-sounding phrase. 'A town clock that's never right,' the man continued. 'And a shiny statue of the dragon that they put on a patch of derelict land behind Bank Square. Twenty-two grand that statue cost, and on the day they unveiled it, the council closed every public khazi in the town. What do they want us to do? Piss in the dragon's mouth?'
And then there is the viewpoint of management:
'Well, we're recommending as a company that you choose to vote remain,' Morris said. 'Those numpties on the news can keep banging on about sovereignty all they like but the fact remains: no migrants, no meat industry. Simple as that.' Two Portugese women waggled through the strip curtain. Morris looked up at the clock. 'Most people have no idea how the world works,' he said. 'Who do they think is going to pick their lettuce if the Romanians have to go home? Only one per cent of seasonal farm workers are Brits. Let that sink in.'
Even as a strong remainer and a pro-European I might have voted to leave if I was Caleb. This is an evocative and powerful book, with detailed descriptive passages, not for the faint-hearted (or vegetarians), with strongly drawn and realistic characters. Highly recommended.
March 2, 2021
Easy Meat is very different from anything I would usually choose to read but something about this odd little tale piqued my interest.
Set in wales in 2016, this is A story about Caleb Jenkins, an almost broken 22 year old man doing everything just to live, to exist.
The story tells of a few days in his life, living in a small room in his own house with his brother, and his parents. His parents having lost everything and now financially ruined, they have to live with their son.
Caleb is the only one out working and his work place and vile supervisor play a large role in this story. He works in a slaughterhouse. The descriptions of that particular place come thick, fast and often. Not one for the squeamish.
There are flashbacks or memory’s throughout of experience of Caleb’s past.
He was a minor celebrity once.
A quite often moving, poignant account of a young mans life, it’s not a happy book. It’s not dark as such but it can feel brutal as it deals in reality, there are no punches pulled in this tale.
The back drop to the story is also of Brexit with the referendum pending.
A strange but interesting and intriguing read, it’s very short, just over 100 pages, and one I’m glad to have read though I found it hard to review.
Thanks to Parthian Books and NetGalley for my Review copy.
Set in wales in 2016, this is A story about Caleb Jenkins, an almost broken 22 year old man doing everything just to live, to exist.
The story tells of a few days in his life, living in a small room in his own house with his brother, and his parents. His parents having lost everything and now financially ruined, they have to live with their son.
Caleb is the only one out working and his work place and vile supervisor play a large role in this story. He works in a slaughterhouse. The descriptions of that particular place come thick, fast and often. Not one for the squeamish.
There are flashbacks or memory’s throughout of experience of Caleb’s past.
He was a minor celebrity once.
A quite often moving, poignant account of a young mans life, it’s not a happy book. It’s not dark as such but it can feel brutal as it deals in reality, there are no punches pulled in this tale.
The back drop to the story is also of Brexit with the referendum pending.
A strange but interesting and intriguing read, it’s very short, just over 100 pages, and one I’m glad to have read though I found it hard to review.
Thanks to Parthian Books and NetGalley for my Review copy.
July 5, 2021
Set in the south Wales valleys on 23rd June 2016, we follow the frustrated protagonist, Caleb Jenkins, over one important day in the UK.
Caleb is a former reality TV star and Iron Man contender- his world was his oyster, until everything in his life unravels. His parents local carpet business went bust due to financial issues so the whole family moved into Caleb’s house, along with his conspiracy-theorist brother, Mason, who is lazy and doesn’t contribute to the household.
Caleb works in a slaughterhouse to pay the mortgage, however his supervisor is an obnoxious man and makes Caleb’s life difficult.
During this day, there are flashbacks to Caleb’s one-night stand and the fallout with his ex-girlfriend, Savannah and how he went for hero to zero.
Caleb is a relatable character highlighting the ongoing frustrations of living hand-to-mouth existence with seemingly no end in sight but wishing for change, wanting something positive to come his way after so much bad luck.
Rachel Trezise has captured the essence of valley life, the day-to-day challenges people face and the never-ending convey belt of hardships they endure.
Caleb is a former reality TV star and Iron Man contender- his world was his oyster, until everything in his life unravels. His parents local carpet business went bust due to financial issues so the whole family moved into Caleb’s house, along with his conspiracy-theorist brother, Mason, who is lazy and doesn’t contribute to the household.
Caleb works in a slaughterhouse to pay the mortgage, however his supervisor is an obnoxious man and makes Caleb’s life difficult.
During this day, there are flashbacks to Caleb’s one-night stand and the fallout with his ex-girlfriend, Savannah and how he went for hero to zero.
Caleb is a relatable character highlighting the ongoing frustrations of living hand-to-mouth existence with seemingly no end in sight but wishing for change, wanting something positive to come his way after so much bad luck.
Rachel Trezise has captured the essence of valley life, the day-to-day challenges people face and the never-ending convey belt of hardships they endure.
July 2, 2021
A beautifully written exploration detailing the ways that politics creeps into the pores of everyday life; the disorientation of old certainties ebbing away leaving confusion - sometimes anger - to fill the vacuum. Rachel Trezise doesn't try to be the voice nor does she confidently trumpet any one view. The real power of this book comes from its quiet assertion of different, sometimes opposing, voices and views. All are serious and equally deserving of examination.
I really love that this book doesn't propagandise: there has been more than enough of that covering the event which is the narrative's backdrop. I also like the fact that much of the book takes place in work which becomes a crucible where class interests, nationalities and opinions don't necessarily vie for supremacy but interweave, their affinities and contradictions offered to us by the author for our own judgement.
I really love that this book doesn't propagandise: there has been more than enough of that covering the event which is the narrative's backdrop. I also like the fact that much of the book takes place in work which becomes a crucible where class interests, nationalities and opinions don't necessarily vie for supremacy but interweave, their affinities and contradictions offered to us by the author for our own judgement.
June 19, 2022
There should be more of these types of books looking focusing on working class lives. This is set in the South Wales valleys in a setting that is given a different name but is easily identifiable to anyone who knows the area (the fabled zip line is indeed now up and running..). The action (for what it is) takes place over one day - that of the Brexit vote - and follows Caleb who experienced some fleeting fame on a reality TV programme but now works in a meat processing factory (note to animal lovers that there are a lot of fairly graphic descriptions of his work). The Brexit vote pops up throughout the day and, although it is not set up as the focus of the book, throughout you are asked to understand (admittedly sometimes a bit chunkily) why some people in this part of the world voted for leave against what seemed like their better interests. If we want to mend some of the fractures in the country at the moment then this kind of story is vital.
June 17, 2021
It's Brexit vote day. Momentous for many but for Caleb, it's another day on the line at the slaughterhouse. This is an interesting slice of life novel about a young man struggling to keep himself and his family above financial ruin. He was once a minor star but now, he's just another cog in the wheel. His parents lost their business, his boss is horrid, and frankly, the work is awful (beware that it's graphically described). Trezise has done a terrific job of making the world financial crisis and Brexit come to life in the person of Caleb. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A valuable read.
February 19, 2021
Set in Rhosybol, South Wales, the story revolves around a young man named Caleb Jenkins and his family, Mason and his parents. Caleb’s been trying to make ends meet ever since his father’s carpet business went bust and has now been repossessed by the bank.
Once a reality TV star and Iron Man contender, Caleb now works as a butcher in a slaughter called Cleflock Beef 🥩 and has an insufferable boss named Morris. Overall a fast and interesting read. Would recommend.
Thank you to Rachael Trezise, NetGalley, and Parthian Books for the ARC of this book.
Once a reality TV star and Iron Man contender, Caleb now works as a butcher in a slaughter called Cleflock Beef 🥩 and has an insufferable boss named Morris. Overall a fast and interesting read. Would recommend.
Thank you to Rachael Trezise, NetGalley, and Parthian Books for the ARC of this book.
August 11, 2021
Very well written and the framing device is brilliant. Also has some interesting things it wants to say on history, class and the political class. However, it's very half-baked. Feels like a draft instead of a finished book. Also contains some odd stereotyping of the Valleys and working class culture, especially as the author herself is from the Rhondda.
March 6, 2023
What an absolute belter, witty, gritty and meaty. An authentic working class voice with an edgy, unputdownable style. One of the best short novels I've ever read, Rachel Trezise is writing at the top of her game.
July 14, 2021
Amazing! Every Welsh person should read this! In fact Everyone should read this. Loved the plot, the descriptions and the pure Welshness of the book xx
October 23, 2022
3.5/4 stars
November 2, 2023
Gwerth chweil! Craff iawn am fywyd ac agweddau Cymry'r cymoedd cyn Brexit.
Brilliant. Very observant of life and attitudes of the Welsh valleys prior to the Brexit vote.
Brilliant. Very observant of life and attitudes of the Welsh valleys prior to the Brexit vote.
November 13, 2023
Outstanding. Highly recommended
November 21, 2023
A quick but fascinating look at the working class life of an individual in the South Wales Valleys on the day of the Brexit vote. Really interesting and good character depth.
May 2, 2022
A good short story that captures the time and place perfectly. You could really get inside the main charcter's head that day. An abrupt ending that left me pondering
May 13, 2021
Overshadowed in the time of a global pandemic, Rachel Trezise brings Brexit again into the forefront of people’s minds in this unreservedly grim novella that hammers home the bleakness of working-class Wales, providing us with an explanation as to what compelled a country to dive head-first into the unfamiliar and choose ‘Leave’.
As the author of In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, Trezise now writes from the perspective of Caleb, a man who once had everything – success and fame, peak physical fitness and a family of his own. With these accomplishments now mere memories, Caleb’s existence is rather hopeless, yet vital to his parents who rely on him to provide for the family because they have gone bankrupt. His mundane and monotonous life is contrasted with the savagery and disquiet nature of the slaughterhouse in which he works, day in, day out, as an outsider to his colleagues. As a man on the edge of not only his boning knife, Caleb wants change and nurses his individual dissatisfaction by utilising the politics available to him and on the 23rd of June 2016 in South Wales – when the book is set – that just so happens to be the EU referendum. For Trezise’s protagonist, to leave the EU ‘meant something had to change’ and all he has to do is put ‘a graphite cross into the box’. Whether this is to his detriment or not, Caleb does not care.
The book explores this concept microcosmically through the character of Savannah when she communicates to Caleb her reason for self-harming. She says, ‘I felt helpless. It made me feel better, like I had some control over something’ – Savannah’s self-harm is an act of self-destruction for the sake of feeling in control. Can this rationale not be applied to the ‘vote leave’ side of the Brexit debate? Even though it is possibly harmful to vote leave, the promise that it will bring change and give more power to the UK triumphs the plethora of disadvantages that it could possibly create. What is most prolific about the Savannah metaphor is that even though she claims that she is okay now, ‘the raised bumps of scar tissue’ still remain on her forearm.
Trezise has lived in Wales all her life and is, therefore, able to give a first-hand experience of Brexit from the Welsh perspective, a viewpoint often forgotten or left out of political narratives. As the first ever winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, the author harnesses her remarkably distinctive writing style once again to confront this political issue and cause the reader to experience the anxieties surrounding it. Tensions are at their highest in the slaughterhouse, with Caleb’s slicing and sawing intertwining with recollections of his traumatic past and present frustration, which makes for an unsettling read in which you realise you have not taken a breath for a page or two. Yes, the story is politically inclined, but in no way is Easy Meat ever dull as Trezise takes the saying ‘like a lamb to the slaughter’, and gives it a whole new meaning.
As the author of In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, Trezise now writes from the perspective of Caleb, a man who once had everything – success and fame, peak physical fitness and a family of his own. With these accomplishments now mere memories, Caleb’s existence is rather hopeless, yet vital to his parents who rely on him to provide for the family because they have gone bankrupt. His mundane and monotonous life is contrasted with the savagery and disquiet nature of the slaughterhouse in which he works, day in, day out, as an outsider to his colleagues. As a man on the edge of not only his boning knife, Caleb wants change and nurses his individual dissatisfaction by utilising the politics available to him and on the 23rd of June 2016 in South Wales – when the book is set – that just so happens to be the EU referendum. For Trezise’s protagonist, to leave the EU ‘meant something had to change’ and all he has to do is put ‘a graphite cross into the box’. Whether this is to his detriment or not, Caleb does not care.
The book explores this concept microcosmically through the character of Savannah when she communicates to Caleb her reason for self-harming. She says, ‘I felt helpless. It made me feel better, like I had some control over something’ – Savannah’s self-harm is an act of self-destruction for the sake of feeling in control. Can this rationale not be applied to the ‘vote leave’ side of the Brexit debate? Even though it is possibly harmful to vote leave, the promise that it will bring change and give more power to the UK triumphs the plethora of disadvantages that it could possibly create. What is most prolific about the Savannah metaphor is that even though she claims that she is okay now, ‘the raised bumps of scar tissue’ still remain on her forearm.
Trezise has lived in Wales all her life and is, therefore, able to give a first-hand experience of Brexit from the Welsh perspective, a viewpoint often forgotten or left out of political narratives. As the first ever winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, the author harnesses her remarkably distinctive writing style once again to confront this political issue and cause the reader to experience the anxieties surrounding it. Tensions are at their highest in the slaughterhouse, with Caleb’s slicing and sawing intertwining with recollections of his traumatic past and present frustration, which makes for an unsettling read in which you realise you have not taken a breath for a page or two. Yes, the story is politically inclined, but in no way is Easy Meat ever dull as Trezise takes the saying ‘like a lamb to the slaughter’, and gives it a whole new meaning.
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