📖 Tender Is the New Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫✨ 3.75 stars Please check the trigger warnings before reading this book. There are quite a few potentially disturbing topics, including animal cruelty, suicide, human cruelty and graphic violence. I’ve had this book on my TBR for years, and I finally decided to give it a try. And honestly, I have very mixed feelings about it. The story takes place in a world where a virus has made animal meat poisonous to humans. As a result, society has legalized the breeding, processing, and consumption of human beings instead. People are raised specifically to be slaughtered and eaten, and they are treated as nothing more than livestock or “product.” Reading about this society was incredibly disturbing. What made it even worse was how normalized everything felt. People talked about breeding, selling, buying, and consuming other human beings as if they were discussing ordinary food. There was this constant feeling of this is so incredibly wrong, while the characters themselves barely questioned it. At the same time, that’s also what made the book so thought-provoking for me. It shows just how far humans might be willing to go to survive and how easily we can dehumanize others when society tells us that it is necessary. As bizarre and horrifying as the premise is, there were moments where I unfortunately thought, I could actually imagine humans becoming this cruel. I had a weird feeling throughout the entire book, and I think that was intentional. It’s not an easy or comfortable read, and there was one particular scene involving dogs that I honestly wish I could have skipped. Overall, this book definitely made me think, but it also left me feeling very unsettled. I’m glad I finally read it, but I definitely need a romance or pretty much anything significantly lighter after this one.

World Building ist richtig gut, aber Handlung lässt im letzten Drittel etwas nach

Wo genau liegt der Unterschied zwischen dem, was wir als ‚normal' akzeptieren, und dem, was wir als unmoralisch verurteilen? Agustina Bazterrica veranschaulicht in zu vielen grausamen Details, wie der Mensch für Fleisch zum Mörder wird. Fleisch, egal welcher Spezies. Dieses Buch sollten alle lesen, die sich immer noch einreden können, unser Umgang mit Tieren sei moralisch vertretbar.

Ich find die Prämisse mega spannenden, hatte aber meine Probleme, reinzufinden und irgendwie mit dem Protagonisten mitzufühlen, weil ich ihn sehr emotionslos und dann sehr eklig fand.

I loved this book. The twist was not at all what I expected and the book portrayed how horrible the meat industry actually is and how peer pressure can affect you even if you think you’re stronger that that. Can recommend if you like weird dystopian stuff :)