The Ana Edit #14: Book Review
“He thinks that Señor Urami needs to reaffirm reality through words, as though words created and maintain the world in which he lives.”
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica Book Review: 4.5/5 Stars
A perturbing picture of a society that indulges its hedonism to the greatest extent, Tender is the Flesh is a dystopian tale of a world in which the market for consumption of human beings is mainstream. The time of the novel's events is unknown, bar the few details, such as the existence of social media, that suggest it is a post-20th century world, a vagueness that allows the story's message to be universal, to warn of the harrowing elements of human nature. Bazterrica is not solely implicating a nation or a group of people; no one is incapable of committing the atrocities of the story. Most people alive have already proven they are closer to this level of sordidness than they claim they are, for while the book depicts the literal devouring of humans, the story functions allegorically as a condemnation of factory farming and, perhaps, a castigation of the other ways people poorly treat one another under current economic institutions.
This castigation of humanity is as merciless as the executors in the story are. The process of selling humans is depicted in immense detail. Every disconcerting action and severing is delineated without any obfuscation or euphemistic language. Not a single individual in the story, including the protagonist, is cast as a savior or upstanding person. The protagonist Marcos is ethical enough to recognize the injustice of this extreme commodification, smart enough to ascertain how individuals manipulate language to dilute the severity of actions, and consistent enough to swear off "meat" consumption for the time being. What he is not is strong enough to perenially rebel against these institutions and not capitalize off their results. Readers are temporarily misled, made to believe this is a story with a glimmer of hope and maturation. Instead, Marcos incrementally acquiesces to the iniquities of the system, all while believing he is above it all and the others who gleefully partake. When it most benefits him, he is inert. Marcos exhibits monstrous levels of cruelty, his actions revealing whatever growth or awareness he possessed is relative to a narrow range of circumstances. Tender is the Flesh does not proffer much direct commentary on what ought to be done about unjust systems or the internal psychology of such a woeful world, but why would it? One need not look any further than their own life and planet to see how inexplicably vile humans can be. When the variables change but the formulas do not, all that is needed is a modicum of self-awareness. Bazterrica supplies the mirror for self-reflection, but it is up to the individual to make eye contact.
