curiouslykatt's Reviews (1.12k)

“… since the world began, we’ve been eating each other. If not symbolically, then we’ve been literally gorging on each other. The Transition has enabled us to be less hypocritical.”

This is one of those stories where you have to spend some time seeing past the words in front of you and it’s one of the reasons I enjoyed (weird word) it so much. I’m happy I haven’t read it until now, it definitely packed a huge punch in terms of the current political climate. 

Tender Is The Flesh explores a world where animals have contracted a virus and can no longer be consumed. The world has moved into a state where humans are bred like cattle to fill the gap. We meet Marcos who while living in the current world is not like everyone else. Marcos is a vegetarian, he is disgusted by other men he meets that are thriving and capitalizing on a system that justifies in maintaining a distinct hierarchy of us vs. them. He must live in the system but he is not a wholly willing participant. 

The intentionality with language shines when readers pay attention and consume the words they’re reading. The language used around describing the raising of heads and the butchering is visceral, graphic, and horrific. You can’t read these passages and feel comfortable. That brutality and bluntness is contrasted by soft edges and an almost acceptable and tenderly kind passages concerning heinous acts committed by our narrator. This contrast between the brutal language used for the overarching systems versus the more tender language used when Marcos is involved makes readers believe that he may be a victim of the system and is just trying his best to manage, a “not all men” as it were. But we know, if you have to defend yourself in that context….

I had a wonderful afternoon with @rainysundaybooks dissecting this one over some pints and barbecue (we are the weirdos mister).

TW animal abuse: no one warned but part two chapter six was an abomination of animal abuse against small puppies. While it may have been a point show Marcos more wholly it wasn’t entirely necessary and I hated reading it.