Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica Book Review

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Tender Is the Flesh presents a dystopian world where humans are bred for consumption due to a disease affecting animal meat. The belief is that a virus has infected all animal meat, and as a result, all other animals are no longer suitable for human consumption. The story follows Marcos, a worker in the meat-processing industry, as he deals with the brutal reality around him.

The book looks at the lengths people will go through to survive and how they justify the unthinkable.

“They call them product or meat, or food. Except for him; he would prefer not to have to call them by any name.”— Marcos’s reflections

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Author: Agustina Bazterrica
Publisher: Scribner
Genre: Horror, Dystopian Fiction
Year of Publication: 2020
Date of Publication: August 4, 2020
Pages: 224
ISBN-10: 1982150920
ISBN-13: 978-1982150921

Our Rating of This Book

Main Plot & Characters

Marcos Tejo: The novel’s protagonist. He works as the manager of a processing plant for “special meat” (human meat). Marcos is grieving the recent death of his infant son and caring for his ailing father. Prior to the virus, Marcos worked at Cypress Processing Plant for animal meat.
Cecilia: Marcos’s wife. After the death of their child, she has left him, but they remain legally married. Their relationship is distant and strained.
Don Armando: He is Marco’s father. He lives in a nursing home. Marcos visits him regularly, even though he is often unresponsive and suffers from dementia.
Spanel: She is a butcher who runs her own shop. She used to work at Marcos’s father’s processing plant.
Marisa: She is Marcos sister and the daughter of Don Armando. She is married to a man named Esteban.
Jasmine: She is the domestic head that is delivered to Marcos as a gift. She is an FGP, which means she was born and bred in captivity.
Mr. Krieg: Marcos’s boss at work. He owns Krieg Processing Plant.
Mari: Mr. Krieg’s secretary.
Senior Urami: The owner of the Tannery (Hifu Tannery).
El Gringo: He is the owner of Tod Voldelig, a breeding center.
Sergio: Marcus colleague and friend from work.
Dr. Valka: She manages a laboratory that engages in different experiments.
Pedro Manzanillo: He works at the same processing plant with Marcos. Pedro is a saw operator.
Ency: He was a saw operator at the processing plant. He and Manzanillo were like brothers.
Graciela: She is Marcos’s mother-in-law and Cecilia’s mother.
Estebancito and Maru: They are twins and children of Marisa and Esteban.
Nélida: She works at the care / nursing home where Marcos’s father resides.
Urlet: He is a Romanian who owned a gaming reserve before the “Transition.” He moved because Romania had restrictions prohibiting hunting of humans.
Guerrero Iraola: He is a powerful man and owns one of the largest breeding centers.
Alfonso Pineda (El Gordo): He is the head of the office of the undersecretary for the control of domestic Head. He used to be Marcos’s partner at the office when they both worked as inspectors at the very start of their careers.

Writing Style

The story is told using a narration style but from Marcos’s perspective. Even though this book is only a little over 200 pages, Bazterrica’s writing is stark and unflinching. Her writing style reflects the brutal setting and dark turn things have taken in the world. As a reader you get a very clear picture of what life is like in Marcos’s world and what is needed to survive.

There are parts of the story were you will be disgusted with how humankind has degenerated but if you are honest with yourself, you can clearly imagine a world where these types of atrocities can play out.

Memorable Quotes

“It’s meat with a first and last name.”— Marcos’s reflections
“He wishes he could anesthetize himself and live without feeling anything.”— Marcos’s reflections
“When he touches his father’s hands, he finds that they’re freezing and can’t help but move his away. He doesn’t feel anything. What he wants to do is cry and hug his father, but he looks at the body as though it were a stranger’s. Now his father is free from the madness, he thinks, from this horrific world, and he feels something like relief, but in fact the stone in his chest is getting bigger.”— Marcos’s reflections
“Because hatred gives one strength to go on; it maintains the fragile structure, it weaves the threads together so that emptiness doesn’t take over everything.”— Marcos reflections on his co-workers Manzanillo and Ency
“Today I’m the butcher, tomorrow I might be the cattle.”— Marcos’s reflections
“Send in the next one.”— Sergio
“She had the human look of a domesticated animal.”— Marcos