A note to prospective readers: this book does contain very graphic depictions of physical and sexual violence, so read with caution if you may be sensitive to those topics.
“Tender is the Flesh” is a dystopian novel by Argentinean author Agustina Bazterrica. It was originally published in Spanish as “Cadáver Exquisito” in 2017 and translated by Sarah Moses into English in 2020. The book was a winner of Argentina’s Premio Clarin de Novela prize and received high critical praise.
After a virus infects the world’s livestock, society falls into chaos. All animals are deemed unsafe to eat, marking the beginning of “The Transition”, a global switch from the consumption of animal meat to the consumption of humans. Cannibalism is quickly legalized and industrialized, deemed as the only solution to the sudden worldwide hunger crisis. A global market for “special meat” emerges, and the agricultural industry adapts to accommodate this new demand. “Heads” are the humans bred for consumption, living their entire lives in captivity until they can be slaughtered and processed.
Marcos Tejo, the novel’s main character, is an employee at one of these slaughterhouses. He is well respected, working as the right-hand man to the owner of a highly reputable “special meat” processing plant. Marcos is morally conflicted by his job duties. He struggles to separate these “heads” from their identities as people, however, he needs the money to support his father, who is sick with dementia. Marcos is also grieving the recent death of his son and struggling with his relationship with his wife, Cecilia, who no longer lives with him.
“Tender is the Flesh” is incredibly disturbing and captivating for so many reasons. The whole novel is told from a third-person limited point of view; a narration void of emotion. The novel’s detached and disinterested voice serves to compound the disturbing nature of the content. The process of slaughtering and butchering humans for meat is described with clinical coldness and in such matter-of-fact detail that it had my stomach churning from start to finish. More disturbing than the gory details is the normalization of cannibalism and the frustratingly indifferent perspective that society has on people eating people. Even Marcos, who struggles morally with the idea that these “heads” are real humans, never does or says anything to challenge or question the way things are.
This novel resonated with me for its parallels to our world today. Obviously, not because of the cannibalism part, but for its statement on capitalism and consumerism. In a capitalistic society, people will go to extreme lengths to fulfill their wants, even at the sacrifice of other lives. In the novel, it’s a direct translation: sacrificing humans for consumption. In the real world, this exchange happens in many places, in less conspicuous ways, however, is equally as detrimental. For example, the overconsumption of finite resources at the expense of our planet’s future. In both the novel and the real world, enough of society is apathetic to these horrors, allowing the harmful cycle to repeat. “Tender is the Flesh” urges people to open their eyes to the true nature of the world around them as oppression’s greatest accomplices are indifference and ignorance.
Overall, I have a difficult time recommending this book due to its disturbing and sensitive content. However, for anyone able to stomach it, this book is a must-read dystopian fiction, horrifying for the real-world comparisons it evokes.