liv ʚɞ

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liv ʚɞ is Currently Reading

liv ʚɞ is currently reading

Tender Is the Flesh

by Agustina Bazterrica

bookshelves: body-horror, dystopia, horror, science-fiction, cannibalism, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in April 2024

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liv ʚɞ said: " ’The pain, he intuits, is the only thing that keeps him breathing. Without the sadness, he has nothing left’

A Spanish cult classic, Tender is the Flesh is a gory, divisive and utterly unique dystopia in which all animals are infected with a virus ren ’The pain, he intuits, is the only thing that keeps him breathing. Without the sadness, he has nothing left’

A Spanish cult classic, Tender is the Flesh is a gory, divisive and utterly unique dystopia in which all animals are infected with a virus rendering them inedible, and thus society legalises cannibalism and the farming of humans.

Written in a stilted and depressing prose, very reminiscent of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Tender is the Flesh doesn’t hide away from the sick nature of its story. We follow the main character Marcos throughout his working days as a liaison between multiple different businesses within the human farming sector. These were the most interesting parts of the book for me - the tannery, the slaughterhouse, the farm, the laboratory and the hunting reserve - and I found the factual way in which they were described fascinating. For such an unrealistic dystopia, Bazterrica does everything in her power to explain just how a system like this would work. Which is mildly concerning, but who am I to criticise an award-winning author?

While Marcos wasn’t a particularly compelling character, not that this really matters when the story / world was so interesting, I enjoyed his regular everyday issues (marital problems, not liking his co-workers, issues with money, bad relationship with his sister) juxtaposed with the horror of the world around him. The normalcy is what made this book so disturbing, more than any gross descriptions or scenes ever could. While I don’t think people would do readily accept something like legalised cannibalism, I can understand Bazterrica’s point that human beings are sheep first and foremost, and will ultimately follow the curve and their government.

The most upsetting part for me was however Jasmine, the poor female that Marcos is given. I think the reason that this affected me the most was that she canonically is the same age as me. To think about the life and freedoms I have compared to hers just broke my heart, and the ending was particularly painful.

Overall, Tender is the Flesh gets 3.5/5 stars, rounded down to 3. I have no issues per se with this book it just didn’t blow me away, and an average score of 3 reflects that. ...more "

progress:

(page 58 of 221)
"rereading and annotating this as the second book I’m analysing for my dissertation :)" — 6 hours, 51 min ago

Apr 20, 2024 08:19AM · see review