Still, the execution will leave a bad taste in the reader’s mouth. The book tells in vivid and horrifying facts the complete and unadulterated process that Special Meat undergoes, from the disturbing impregnation protocols. Tender is the Flesh: the frailty and futility of being human Tender is the Flesh: the frailty and futility of being human By TheHaught圜ulturist Published: 24 July 2022 Updated: 27 February 2023 Literature Tip Jar Tender is the Flesh serves up a dystopia in which animals are off the menu and eating humans is the norm. But as hardcore as this first part may be, it is the second half. This is gut-churning stuff, even for a hardened horror lover such as myself. The first covers a very compressed timeline where we get to know Marcos, learn of his family tragedies and bear witness to the new method of meat processing. These entrancing scenes normalize the brutality with euphemisms, demonstrating the Orwellian potential of language to “cover up the world.” The prose, though, can be overwrought at times-notably during a sex scene taking place on a bloody butchering table-but Bazterrica’s purposely unappetizing conceit makes for a powerful allegory on the human consumption of animals. Tender is the Flesh is broken into two parts. Bazterrica is best when clinically describing the mechanisms of the harvesting process, from breeding to killing to butchering. After one of his clients gives him as a gift a “First Generation Pure” female-captive-bred, non-GMO human livestock-he begins to lust for her, though it’s a capital crime to “enjoy” females meant for breeding. Marcos is a dour character, emotionally hollow after the death of his son and working in a profession he despises to support his ailing father. Marcos Tejo works for a processing plant that slaughters genetically modified humans, or “head,” for consumption. Bazterrica efficiently establishes the premise: an animal-borne virus has led to the mass slaughter of all livestock, forcing the hungry populace to look for protein elsewhere (“At a chilling speed the world was put back together and cannibalism was legitimized”). Argentine writer Bazterrica’s uneven English-language debut disturbs with a vision of human cruelty and moral flexibility.

Tender is the flesh marcos