tender is the flesh by agustina bazterrica

cannibalism is a powerful literary device in horror. it has historically been used as a tool of colonial power, literally and culturally. it falls between the many axis of power, consumption, taboo, etc. more commonly nowadays, it's been used in gothic romances (hannibal, iwtv) as an exploration of love and devotion brought to its most "ultimate" form, where in intaking someone, they become a permanent part of you.

in essence, to eat is to exert our power over what is being eaten. to eat is to survive, to live, and we must do it. to digest is to take it into ourselves and strip that object of what made it different. even if it changes us, it is still us, and no longer it. whether we appreciate or despise what we eat, it is another flavor in our complete domination of it.

tender is the flesh poses many questions; what if i must eat you? what if you had no choice but to be eaten? what if what you ate looked like you? how do you cope with the violence?

it posits a world where all animals are inconsumable, where they've all been infected in a way that kills any human that eats or touches them. they've been made "extinct" in the name of human survival.

our mc, marcos, is the righthand of the most reputable meat processing plant. he struggles with the dissonance of his upbringing at pig slaughterhouses that soon graduated to people, he despises those that embrace and profit off of the dehumanization of what they slaughter, and throughout the story, he attempts to keep his humanity in a world that has already normalized the destruction of it. those being slaughtered are referred to as "heads" and are spoken of in ways akin to domesticated animals. and everyone is more than happy to ignore and admonish those that attempt to humanize them.

not only is cannibalism a significant theme, it is normalized and institutionalized. it is culturally inescapable, where veganism isn't regarded as a possibility. it forces you, much like marcos, to struggle with understanding it. would you accept your role in domination or succumb to its violence.

bazterrica, frankly, does not miss. the symbolism alone i could write essays on. every sentence has purpose, every horror that could be created from this type of world is on display. bazterrica, notably, is one of brevity, they do not over-describe more than necessary, nor romanticize the suffering for shock value. it is at times torturous, but not pornographic. it is still sickening, disgusting, vile, and effective. when they first described the state of those meant for breeding, it was immediately nauseating.

i was taken so deeply by it that it became one of my favorite books immediately. it is not a long read, for those that don't have the time, but trust me that it is horror at its best.