A review by chichio
Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia

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

3.0

There is no one to stop him, for men like him, slaughterers, are few and far between. Those who eat are many, and they are never satiated. They are all men of blood, those who kill and those who eat. No one goes unpunished.

Maybe it’s a little unfair for me to read a book with less than 100 pages and leave it wishing that the author went further but… here I am, doing just that. Edgar’s psyche is dark and deeply troubled and I would’ve liked to sit with that for a little longer because I ended up finding his relationship to death a little hard to believe. He’s apparently unsettled by killing cows but…
he tells that student that he knows exactly who he is, and he’s also a murderer of humans?
The jump between the two wasn’t explored enough for me. 

I did appreciate how this book looked at the Brazilian livestock industry and the poverty in the communities that surround these businesses. Very bleak and upsetting how the lines between desperate humans and desperate animals blurred and then, eventually, became nonexistent.