A review by oatmilktea
Wie die Schweine by Agustina Bazterrica

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A captivating and disturbing piece of dystopian literary horror, Tender is the Flesh utilises legalised and industrialised cannibalism as a mirror image for humanity's cruelty, double standards, and wilful ignorance of the gruesome realities we won’t acknowledge for the sake of our own convenience and supposedly clear conscience. This novel also explores the dissociation between the food on our plate and its source as well as the juxtaposition of legality and legitimacy.

Some further, critical thoughts that don’t contain actual spoilers, but hint at what is not in the novel, and thus indirectly give away parts of it:

I do wish the author had touched more on veganism–perhaps through (at the least) the mention of a movement, a rebellion, some underground thing going on that might herald a possible end to this “Transition”. Then again, our perspective was limited to that of Marcos, and while he has his suspicions and reservations, he is just another cog in the system, and that seems to be the point after all, frustrating as it may be.

It’s always difficult to guess the author’s intentions, but I believe the novel is supposed to make us feel and think and reflect–among other things–on the status quo of the meat industry as well as all the ethics surrounding the consumption of meat/animal products in the first place, not serve as a handbook on how to dismantle the system. I respect that because that would be a far bigger undertaking, and perhaps that’s enough for this novel, all it can do, to make people feel and think and talk about it. That alone can inspire change in the individual at least, perhaps even more so without the exploration of veganism as an alternative, because in my personal experience so many non-vegans get defensive and shut off all critical thinking/self-reflection the instant there is a vegan at the dinner table.


Difficult to stomach but hard to put down and now seared into my brain. I definitely understand the critiques about there being too much gore for gore's sake, so make sure to check the content warnings.

I read the German translation. 
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