Tender is the flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Paperback, 221 pages

Published November 5th 2020 by Pushkin Press (first published November 29th 2017)

Original Title: Cadáver exquisito

Fiction Dystopian

Library

Well this was revolting, I love meat, but fake meat is great, just expensive. I would not go freaking insane and start eating people!

Animals carry a virus. People lose their minds and start eating each other. Well, we obviously need regulations. Let's breed people and then slaughter them! Veal, I mean kids are tasty. And we can hunt people too just like we did animals. Perfect plan! Omg, it was horrific and they even have a run through the plant at one time so we see every step. And they are all so used to it so they think it is normal, because they are not human after all, they are bred for a purpose.

But then it's not like they only eat the special meat (which is really expensive btw),no, sometimes when old people die they are sold for meat, and more. So anything goes. Meat is meat. And the kids growing up thinks this is normal. Wtf.

And Marcos, he seems to used to this, and over it, he does not even want meat anymore (well finally someone who can go vegan, I mean sheesh.) And then he gets a special present, to eat or sell.

This world is dark, and real in its madness. I mean who really got a virus. Because humanity is tainted. But it is easy to see how we would downgrade some, to make them not human anymore.

Good and horrific. Short too 

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.