Agustina Bazterrica

Cadaver Exquisito

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore. His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing. Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.

Tender Is the Flesh

james cao

As he drags the body of the female to the barn to slaughter it, he says to Cecilia, his voice radiant, so pure it wounds: "She had the human look of a domesticated animal."

"The human being is complex and I find the vile acts, contradictions, and sublimities characteristic of our condition astonishing. Our existence would be an exasperating shade of gray if we were all flawless."

"But then why do you consider it atrocious?"

"Because it is. But that's what's incredible, that we accept our excesses, that we normalize them, that we embrace our primitive essence."

It's daytime, but in Urlet's office, behind the imposing desk of black wood, behind the chair that looks like a throne, below the stuffed heads and photographs, are lit candles. As though the space were a great altar, as though the heads were holy objects from some private religion, Urlet's religion, dedicated to the collection of humans, words, photographs, flavors, souls, meats, books, presences.

Owning slaves is prohibited. He remembers the allegations against a family that was later prosecuted for keeping ten female slaves in a clandestine workshop. They were branded. The family had bought them from a breeding center and trained them. They'd all been taken to the Municipal Slaughterhouse. The females and the family became special meat. The press reported on the case for weeks. He remembers there was a sentence that everyone repeated, horrified: "Slavery is barbaric.”

“It's the most tender kind of meat, there's only just a little, because a kid doesn't weigh as much as a calf. We're celebrating because one of the farmhands became a father," he explains.

He leaves the tannery and feels relief. But then he questions, yet again, why he exposes himself to this. The answer is always the same. He knows why he does this work. Because he's the best and they pay him accordingly, because he doesn't know how to do anything else, and because his father's health depends on it.

There are times when one has to bear the weight of the world.

Erica England 

The human being is complex and I find the vile acts, contradictions and sublimities characteristic of our condition astonishing. Our existence would be an exasperating shade of grey if we were all flawless. 

embracing my body hair from now on to prove im alive 🤩

Once they’re entirely hairless, they can be gutted.

Really interesting observation on how media often helps to form public opinion

Marz 

There were massive protests, hunger strikes, complaints filed by human rights organisations, and the same time articles, research and news stories had an impact on public opinion. 

How many hearts need to be stored in boxes for the pain to be transformed into something else? 

I was not able to sleep after finishing it. Simply a masterpiece.

mari

Cecilia se sobresalta con el golpe y lo mira sin entender. Le grita: «¡¿Por qué?! Podría habernos dado más hijos». Mientras arrastra el cuerpo de la hembra al galpón para faenarlo, él le contesta con una voz radiante, tan blanca que lastima: «Tenía la mirada humana del animal domesticado».

Gemma

Ha la faccia di Spanel, ma lui sa che è Cecilia. Sorride.

Aimee :)

As he drags the body of the female to the barn to slaughter it, he says to Cecilia, his voice radiant, so pure it wounds: “she had the human look of a domesticated animal.” 

“Why?” she yells. “She could have given us more children.” 

When she calms down a little, he stands up and grabs her by the hair. Jasmine is only able to move her hands, is trying to reach for her son. She wants to speak, to scream, but there are no sounds. He picks up the club he brought from the kitchen and hits her on the forehead, right where she’s been branded. Jasmine falls to the floor, stunned, unconscious. 

Jasmine is in bed and she stretches  out her arms. They ignore her, but she opens her mouth and moves her hands.

He gets up and gives his son to Cecilia, who begins to rock and sing to him. “He’s ours now,” he tells her, and she looks at him, unable to respond, emotional, confused. 

“You don’t want to come home. Do you expect me to spend my whole life waiting for you?” 

He sees specimens without eyes, others hooked up to tubes, breathing in nicotine all day long, other specimens have apparatuses on their heads, stuck to their skulls, some look like they’re being starved, some have wires sticking out of every part of their body; he sees assistants performing vivisections, others pulling pieces of skin off the arms of specimens who haven’t been given anaesthesia, and heads in cages that he knows have electrified floors. 

He thinks there’s no way that something so beautiful and small could cause harm.

Now his father is free from the madness, he thinks, from this horrific world, and he feels something like relief…

“What if we light it on fire?” another one asked.

Jagger bit the hand of the teenager who was about to throw him into the air. As he looked on at the scene, he felt a sense of pleasure at Jagger’s small revenge.

“Let’s smash their brains against the wall. I wanna see what it feels like.”

Weeks before he’d petted those puppies. Now he saw a teenager grab one of the four brothers and throw him into the air…

The creature struck the wall and fell to the floor, dead, very close to one of his brothers, who had already been killed.

tash

Everyone's eating human meat. Would you? 'This book will pull you in, take hold, and not let go until you reach the final page – perhaps far longer than that. Without a doubt, my favourite read of this year' Christina Dalcher, author of VOX It all happened so quickly. First, animals became infected with the virus and their meat became poisonous. Then governments initiated the Transition. Now, 'special meat' – human meat – is legal. Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans – only no one calls them that. He works with numbers, consignments, processing. One day, he's given a gift to seal a deal: a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her in his barn, tied up, a problem to be disposed of later. But the specimen haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, her eyes that watch him, that seem to understand. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost – and what might still be saved... Agustina Bazterrica is an Argentinian novelist and short-story writer. She is a central figure in the literary scene of Buenos Aires, where she co-curates the event series 'Siga al Conejo Blanco' and coordinates reading workshops. Agustina has published a short-story collection and two novels, for which she has won several awards. Tender is the Flesh, her second novel, won the prestigious Premio Clarín Novela and has been translated into nine languages and optioned for a TV series.

Tender is the Flesh

belle

"It all happened so quickly. First, animals became infected with the virus and their meat became poisonous. Then, governments initiated the Transition. Now, 'special meat' - human meat - is legal. Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans only no one calls them that. He works with numbers, consignments, processing. One day, he's given a gift to seal a deal: a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her in his barn, tied up, a problem to be disposed of later. But the specimen haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, her eyes that watch him, that seem to understand. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost - and what might still be saved.."--Publisher.

one of those books that makes you think and think and think and think ... gruesome and grotesque, absolutely devoured

plantdad

disturbing and terrifying the more i think about anything in this book

cannibalism horror— probably would have been better to read in original language. huge commentary on power imbalances and racism , classism, and the commodification of women vs men once people are stripped to the values of their bodies. people would detach themselves from such horrors easily as long as they stay “human”. reminded me a little of the vegetarian , as the entire book is through the pov of a man and takes away any autonomy the women have as they’re all viewed from his perspective (or simply seen as an animal) 

jade shen

🤢 everyone should go vegan idc this shouldn’t happen to animals either🥲🫵🏼

Helena

An extremely disturbing read. Gripping in a very macabre way. I will need time to properly digest this one. 

Steve Collins

im so glad i don't eat meat because this book would have made me physically sick for consuming it recently. crazy story

Thea Sophie

jay bee

absolutely devastating and brutal glimpse into a future that dehumanizes us. bazterrica is absolutely relentless in this book and i loved it.  

Chloe 

me, a filipino 🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 me, having finished this book: fuck you, marcos!

˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

Tina Villarete

i hate to say that i did not rly care for this book :-/ 

yes, it has a very dystopian and emotional plot - we live in a society where human meat is the only meat, mc is struggling with the loss of his son and separation from his wife while also dealing with his elderly father and selfish sister. i feel like there were too many different struggles to where none could be fully fleshed out. 

i HATED that he impregnated the female.. then trained her to live in his house. are we ignoring that this is basically beastiality? sexual assault? so weird. when the book when into part 2, i almost stopped reading. dont get me started on the teenager/puppies scene

i also wonder how much is lost in translation. there were clearly more drawn out emotional scenes but they felt underwhelming. if im picking a cannibalism book to read, i would choose the lamb

Sophia Rico

i hate to say that i did not rly care for this book :-/ 

yes, it has a very dystopian and emotional plot - we live in a society where human meat is the only meat, mc is struggling with the loss of his son and separation from his wife while also dealing with his elderly father and selfish sister. i feel like there were too many different struggles to where none could be fully fleshed out. 

i HATED that he impregnated the female.. then trained her to live in his house. are we ignoring that this is basically beastiality? sexual assault? so weird. when the book when into part 2, i almost stopped reading. dont get me started on the teenager/puppies scene

i also wonder how much is lost in translation. there were clearly more drawn out emotional scenes but they felt underwhelming. if im picking a cannibalism book to read, i would choose the lamb

This book will leave you with a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach for days. Set in a dystopian future- after an event known as " The Transition" takes place, animals/livestock are infected with a virus that makes them inedible. So everyone becomes vegan. The end. I wish! People then resort to cannibalism and the industrial farming system is co-opted to now process humans bred specifically for this purpose. The protagonist (I guess) Marcos, is a middleman in this new/old industry buying "heads" of human chattel. Marcos himself is a vegetarian. Separated from his wife after the loss of their son, he describes his cotidian life even while dealing with this vampiric horror on the daily. Soon, Marcos enters into a moral quandary when he is gifted a woman. Unable to kill her, he slowly bonds with her and eventually impregnates her. Only at the end of the novel do we learn of his true intentions as he goes from morally grey to morally bankrupt. This book reminded me of the film Daylight, with Ethan Hawke. A vampiric world as well, where humans hide out of fear of being farmed. With the blood supply slowly running out, society begins to devolve and crumble. Back to this book, it is a true indictment of capitalism. Capitalism is in and of itself dystopian. It is not meant to serve all the people in a society, it is meant to serve capital and those that have it. It creates inequality, destroys the environment, it is exploitative. It grants power to a small minority whose tastes and whims become law and policy that affects us all. It highlights what we are willing to normalize in our society and how we can adapt to horrific new norms like State sanctioned cannibalism. Is there such a thing as ethical consumerism? What happens when we call other human beings animals? How can we ever do what is morally right in a system that rewards only the greedy and self-interested? 

Ella Ella Ellael

nattie

bad, was waiting for it too get started. too much detail and not enough content.

jacq bridge

this genuinely just felt like a gore fetish for the sake of it. im not a particularly squeamish person and read a lot of horror but this did not click with me. there was SO much worldbuilding and lore about the society and politics of this dystopian cannibalistic world and it definitely had interesting takes on how society can spiral into something so fundamentally wrong and justify it. but the mc had a big ass victim complex only to be just as bad as everyone else (which was actually a cool twist ending) but it just felt like incessant whining. i know its a critique but it still just didnt hit for me. also the puppy scene .. was just awful thats when it fully lost me

sinceramente este libro me jodio mentalmente estos 2 días. la brutalidad y el despecho emocional que manejaba la mayoría de los personajes era honestamente escalofriante, particularmente las escenas del frigorífico y el laboratorio, y definitivamente la del zoológico. 

creo que lo peor de todo es que fácilmente puedo ver un futuro así, por como el mundo capitalista se va manejando es algo que no suela tan loco si prestamos un mínimo de atención a el calentamiento global y la industria de la carne, pero especialmente a una parte de la sociedad que tratar a los seres humanos como objetos, todo lo que es trata de personas para diferentes ámbitos de la máquina capitalista del trabajo esclavo en empresas, de manera sexual e incluso de niños. este libro presenta todo esto de una manera brutal y que sinceramente lo lees y sentis una incomodidad durante toda la lectura porque te impresiona la naturalidad de como la sociedad pudo simplemente seguir como si nada.

el personaje principal fue un narrador qué de a poco va mostrando la hilacha, osea, durante la primera parte te sentis como representado con él, pero durante la segunda parte, personalmente, poco a poco lo veía como más alejado de la poca humanidad que le quedaba, y más alejado de uno como lector, incluso te empezas a sentir mas incómodo, y uno termina mirando con horror ese final. de igual forma voy a admitir que la parte con la hermana en la segunda parte fue muy satisfactoria por lo que le subo un poco en esa parte.

no son 5 porque no me termina de  convencer el final, creo que necesitaba un epílogo para poder darle un mejor cierre a la historia.

yo diría unas 4.25 🌟 sólidas 

sinceramente este libro me jodio mentalmente estos 2 días. la brutalidad y el despecho emocional que manejaba la mayoría de los personajes era honestamente escalofriante, particularmente las escenas del frigorífico y el laboratorio, y definitivamente la del zoológico. 

creo que lo peor de todo es que fácilmente puedo ver un futuro así, por como el mundo capitalista se va manejando es algo que no suela tan loco si prestamos un mínimo de atención a el calentamiento global y la industria de la carne, pero especialmente a una parte de la sociedad que tratar a los seres humanos como objetos, todo lo que es trata de personas para diferentes ámbitos de la máquina capitalista del trabajo esclavo en empresas, de manera sexual e incluso de niños. este libro presenta todo esto de una manera brutal y que sinceramente lo lees y sentis una incomodidad durante toda la lectura porque te impresiona la naturalidad de como la sociedad pudo simplemente seguir como si nada.

el personaje principal fue un narrador qué de a poco va mostrando la hilacha, osea, durante la primera parte te sentis como representado con él, pero durante la segunda parte, personalmente, poco a poco lo veía como más alejado de la poca humanidad que le quedaba, y más alejado de uno como lector, incluso te empezas a sentir mas incómodo, y uno termina mirando con horror ese final. de igual forma voy a admitir que la parte con la hermana en la segunda parte fue muy satisfactoria por lo que le subo un poco en esa parte.

no son 5 porque no me termina de  convencer el final, creo que necesitaba un epílogo para poder darle un mejor cierre a la historia.

Loved the dystopian concept it had so much potential, but lacked follow through.  I thought overall the book fell really flat. Too much meaningless monologuing from the MC and not enough plot until the last chapter, then it was extremely rushed. Disappointing I had really high hopes for this book. Definitely overhyped. 

Colleen

this book kind of sticks with you for a while. it’s disgusting but it’s by design

Anastasiia 

I put off writing this review for a few days because I wanted to reflect on it, so that my review could be as thorough as possible. 

The subject matter of this book is bone chilling, the writing is cold and concise which paired with the brutality of the imagery leave you in shock. If body horror is not your thing, this book is NOT for you, that is for certain. However I'm a fan of horror especially that written to reflect on society we live in. I think the author executed this idea excellently, and given the subject matter that was no easy feat.

The book is split into two halves, this first half is focused on explaining how the world has changed after what the book calls "the transition" when humanity legalises cannibalism after a deadly pandemic destroys the food supply. It answers many horrifying questions on how commercialised cannibalism could exist, there is almost no stone left unturned. Some of the imagery left me feeling queasy but what made it worse was that it was so realistic. The way human meat or "head" is treated in this book is exactly how we treat animals. It made me question even more how we justify our actions in meat and dairy consumption to meet our needs. The second half does the same but we also follow the main character make some difficult decisions around the care of his ailing father and a female "head" he is gifted. I enjoyed the first half a bit more but the second part still made for an interesting read. 

I think ultimately my take away message is the ability of mankind to be extremely self centered and the extremes it'll go to have it wants met. Not needs but wants. Within the book there is mentions of the impact the media has on shaping public narrative around the pandemic and public opinion as a whole. This is mirrored in reality. Similarly as a reader you could understand why meat and dairy maybe needed, but what of leather making and hunting for sport. 

While the events of the book seem extreme, in our capitalist society and recent pandemic on our minds, is this reality completely unfeasible? I leave this book rather terrifyingly thinking no. 

I put off writing this review for a few days because I wanted to reflect on it, so that my review could be as thorough as possible. 

The subject matter of this book is bone chilling, the writing is cold and concise which paired with the brutality of the imagery leave you in shock. If body horror is not your thing, this book is NOT for you, that is for certain. However I'm a fan of horror especially that written to reflect on society we live in. I think the author executed this idea excellently, and given the subject matter that was no easy feat.

The book is split into two halves, this first half is focused on explaining how the world has changed after what the book calls "the transition" when humanity legalises cannibalism after a deadly pandemic destroys the food supply. It answers many horrifying questions on how commercialised cannibalism could exist, there is almost no stone left unturned. Some of the imagery left me feeling queasy but what made it worse was that it was so realistic. The way human meat or "head" is treated in this book is exactly how we treat animals. It made me question even more how we justify our actions in meat and dairy consumption to meet our needs. The second half does the same but we also follow the main character make some difficult decisions around the care of his ailing father and a female "head" he is gifted. I enjoyed the first half a bit more but the second part still made for an interesting read. 

I think ultimately my take away message is the ability of mankind to be extremely self centered and the extremes it'll go to have it wants met. Not needs but wants. Within the book there is mentions of the impact the media has on shaping public narrative around the pandemic and public opinion as a whole. This is mirrored in reality. Similarly as a reader you could understand why meat and dairy maybe needed, but what of leather making and hunting for sport. 

While the events of the book seem extreme, in our capitalist society and recent pandemic on our minds, is this reality completely unfeasible? I leave this book rather terrifyingly thinking no. 

A masterful piece of writing

Poppy Keogh

well. that was a book that i chose to read

Cadaver Exquisito

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