Review of Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Vegetarianism for edge-lords.

Sure, there are some pros and cons to consuming meat,—who among us has not read Ruth Ozeki’s Year of Meats?—but the taboo of cannibalism is more persuasive than the supremacy of meat in our gustatory culture. The author seems to forget that hundreds of millions of people go their entire lives without meat. There will always be a few fanatics who cannot give up their daily jerky and leg of lamb, but by and large, the bulk of our species is capable of producing, devouring, and sustaining a non-meat food supply. You can also grow meat in a lab instead of killing mammals. By providing her own reason humanity must consume itself, in the form of a vague, unlikely, and unconvincing virus, she launches upon a crusade to fictively repulse the unsuspecting reader with scenes of carnage and perversion. Why not double-down on plant proteins and vaccinate the animals we are now unable to eat? No, the book posits human trafficking is more effective. Raise humans as cattle, auction them off, label the products appropriately. Legislate everything. Everyone is fed, everyone makes a buck, and the overpopulation problem is solved. Win-win, right?
No, this is the most horrifying dystopia imaginable. Not a single character is redeemable. Utterly gruesome and contemptible. Something Palahniuk would write. It does not follow the conventions of the horror genre, but instead invests each sentence with gore and intimate, immoral splatter. If you feel you need to read this, good luck with the next social function you attend with its accompanying array of livid nutrients.