Tender Is the Flesh

This is quite honestly the most disturbing book I've ever read. Stomach churning, upsetting, horrifying and horrible - it goes on and on. And yet so compelling is the story and the will for things to come good - the wish for a revolution, a change. Probably the most chilling aspect of the story are the parallels. The first reaction to this story is, "Never. This will never happen". Then comes the drip feed: the government coercing and the manipulation using fear, before the realisation that such horrendous acts have been done over and over during history - when individuals are dehumanised and others manipulated and scared. This is the most rambling review I've ever written. I'm that rattled. Anyhow, I've given this book five stars because of the powerfulness of it. Both it and the messages it contains are not to be forgotten.

The good: I enjoyed this book a lot. I personally loved the main character seeing who he presents himself to be on the outside and how he really was very different internally. He is in a constant swing from bad to good which makes him very human, this makes it easy to feel for him. It was interesting seeing his facade break as the story progressed, him dealing with his anxiety and everything traumatic that was happening. I also love the spin of this book. I would almost say it is political in that it says a lot about animal rights without animals even being present. Because these conditions we place animals in - testing, breeding, meat production are only seen as shocking because it’s our own kind we’re putting in these situations in this book. Most people are so detached from this reality that we can’t sympathize with animals, but putting humans in those positions seeing the fear and the pain, the gore from this perspective may enable some people to open up their minds about this subject. And the bad: The only reason why I didn’t give this book 5 stars was because the ending was really short and rushed. And even though I liked that I didn’t expect the way it turned out. I was disappointed because I was hoping that this growth, this breaking of his outer personality, him showing his values was leading somewhere. I was waiting for him to do something drastic that no one would expect. Break and show his true views that these people are human because that would break all the social norms everything he built too. Or I would have personally preferred, if we went the insane route - killing the “oppressor's” maybe even doing to them what they did to others eating them and feeling satisfied because he’s mentally broken and I think that these would have been a more satisfying endings but in the end he just reverted back to society and shunned that part of himself by killing jasmine. I thought his father’s death would break him and he would follow his ideology but no. Which is a little sad but the book was good nonetheless.

Okay, so we know from the outset the premise around the changes that reduce, humans to eating ‘special’ meat. I was a bit shocked and stunned (no pun intended) when the full extent of the processing description was described and I kept making mental reference to today’s processing practices and tried to make the mental leap linking them to the story and seeing in my minds eye people being slaughtered and processed with scary precision. I couldn’t believe how the characters didn’t see the ‘heads’ as the same species but then reminded myself that humankind have acted similarly and performed various atrocities to fellow humans in the past, some under organised supervision. Overall, I enjoyed being creeped out and the ending twist surprised me.

Probably the most disturbing book I have ever read. You will feel physically ill reading this. I said to my husband when I had about a third of it read that I might be vegan by the time I have finished it. I honestly couldn’t put it down as I wanted to see how it ended. The only thing I didn’t like was the very abrupt ending. But I would highly recommend it. It’s won’t be like any other book you will ever read.

Well written and a tough read. Insight into the cruelty of human nature and danger of group mentality and desensitization towards the suffering of others. It shows the worst we could become.

Novela de lectura rápida que no te deja indiferente. No apta para lectores aprensivos. Sitúa al lector en un futuro distópico en què los humanos no pueden comer animales, por lo que recurren a la carne humana, que crían en granjas, con leyes y normas para regularlo. La normalización es lo que pone los pelos de punta y no puedes dejar de pensar cómo podría llegar a ser posible, o no ...

Finished reading almost a year ago, and I'm still thinking about it. The ending is spectacular, truly a joy to see that such stories can still be written in the abyss of contemporary unoriginality.

The book was intriguing, could stop reading it to be honest. I personally didn’t think the ending was shocking at all. I was told that this was a super creepy book but after reading it I just don’t think it’s all that terrifying. I will say however I was quite creeped out by how it was made to seem that harvesting people could actually be something to happen irl.

Im halfway through this book but its amazing. Its about how there was a virus and now people cant eat animal meat so they farm humans for eatting purposes. Its very dystopia vibes. Really well written and keeps the reader captivated

To say i had devourd the Book was an understatement. The Story was a twisted Adventure i dont regret at all joining. I get the hype but theres so much potential for a second book and even more gut clenching scenarios about the mentioned labartory i personal found kinda sad that its not used. Who likes it a bit weird to read and is ready for an adventure in the darks of the Human mind,should defintly give this book a read.