Sign in with Facebook
Lark Benobi's Reviews > Tender Is the Flesh
Tender Is the Flesh
by
by
Lark Benobi's review
bookshelves: 2020, argentina, ruthless-books, hispanohablante, amazingly-disturbing-5-star-reads
May 12, 2020
bookshelves: 2020, argentina, ruthless-books, hispanohablante, amazingly-disturbing-5-star-reads
One of the most relentless and ugly books I've ever read. A book that describes a society where humans are slaughtered for meat, in more detail than I was ready for. This novel willfully refuses to allow itself to fall into any category of fiction that would make it easier to take as a reader. The flat direct style of its prose didn't allow me, as I read along, to think of it as horror, or satire, or a metaphorical representation of social injustice, or a nihilistic moral thesis about humanity. It is exactly what it is. Never boring, it managed to continue to shock me until its final pages.
In 2010 Roger Ebert reviewed the cult movie The Human Centipede and wrote:
I am required to award stars to movies I review. This time, I refuse to do it. The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don't shine.
That goes for this novel, as well. If forced to give stars, I would give it five stars, for the way it relentlessly fulfills its purpose.
In 2010 Roger Ebert reviewed the cult movie The Human Centipede and wrote:
I am required to award stars to movies I review. This time, I refuse to do it. The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don't shine.
That goes for this novel, as well. If forced to give stars, I would give it five stars, for the way it relentlessly fulfills its purpose.
2032 likes · Like
∙
flag
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Tender Is the Flesh.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
March 16, 2020
– Shelved
March 16, 2020
– Shelved as:
to-read
March 26, 2020
–
Started Reading
March 29, 2020
–
Finished Reading
May 11, 2020
– Shelved as:
soon
May 13, 2020
– Shelved as:
2020
May 13, 2020
– Shelved as:
argentina
May 13, 2020
– Shelved as:
ruthless-books
June 9, 2020
– Shelved as:
hispanohablante
September 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
amazingly-disturbing-5-star-reads
Comments Showing 1-50 of 120 (120 new)
message 1:
by
Robin
(new)
May 13, 2020 04:02AM
Wow. Terrifying.
reply
|
flag
I would definitely be put off by such a subject.
I can't exactly recommend it, but I hope other people read it so I can talk about it with them. One of the things I'm wondering is how the novel's reception would have been different if the novel had been written by a man.
I just picked up this galley at the bookstore I work at! Even more intrigued now having read your review!
The cover is great, isn't it? I'm still so unsettled. I've put it on my "ruthless books" shelf which seems to be primarily a place for books written by women lately.
I have a similarly crowded bookshelf, and yes, I'll admit the cover is what got me to pick it up!
Never has a rating-less review made me want to read something more! "Relentlessly fulfills its purpose." Wow.
Sharif wrote: "Based on your review, I will pass on this novel. I just don’t have the stomach to read books like this, though I wish I did."It's relentlessly hopeless or I would have given it 5 stars unabashedly. I just need a glimmer of light somewhere, though, to truly love a book. So I understand!
I read an interesting novel on a similar subject,( i.e. Hunting of humans for food) Under the Skin. The other themes of the novel were probably different.
Adina wrote: "I read an interesting novel on a similar subject,( i.e. Hunting of humans for food) Under the Skin. The other themes of the novel were probably different."Adina, I think I like Under the Skin better, because it's an alien doing the slaughtering, so that book doesn't send me directly to thinking about actual human atrocities like the Holocaust etc. the way this one did.
Your review sums up exactly how I felt about this! And the ending was a final blow ( I think I was holding out for something maybe a bit less awful to happen....)
Viv the NYT reviewed the novel in their Sunday Book Review last week and the reviewer came away with the idea that the book was all about animal rights and the horrors of factory farming. Here I was thinking it was a grim allegory of the way dehumanizing others can be used as a political weapon, can whip up nationalism in the way we see all over the world, and can devolve into human rights abuses and even genocide. I guess it's a multi-purpose shocker.
Here is the NYT review:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/bo...
This is an excellent review - it truly is relentless and gruesome. Technically, this book is phenomenal but I’m having trouble rating it.
Kayla wrote: "This is an excellent review - it truly is relentless and gruesome. Technically, this book is phenomenal but I’m having trouble rating it."Kayla, I always have this struggle: do I rate a book for how well it fulfills its intended purpose, or for how much value I personally got from it as a reader? I think it's the first but sometimes it's hard.
You sold me!! Am buying it now
Robert wrote: "You sold me!! Am buying it now"Fascinating! Well, I think I've told the truth about what you should expect.
i look at the date in which you read this and i cannot believe my eyes. then i remember that the pandemic gave you euphoria. i will never read this. no amount of peace and justice in the world can make me strong enough for this kind of horror.
I don't remember when the pandemic gave me euphoria. What a horrible thought. Fiction of any kind doesn't seem to bother me much these days though. writing this while listening to the ravings of a madman in georgia, what i hope will be his last speech ever as president
lark wrote: "I don't remember when the pandemic gave me euphoria. What a horrible thought. Fiction of any kind doesn't seem to bother me much these days though. writing this while listening to the ravings of a ..."Hey, dang, it wasn’t you. It was my sweet sweet nephew. Was this only 9 months ago? Sorry for the confusion and happy to be able to clarify! (Also, on his behalf, I do get disaster euphoria, especially in the young’uns, I really do).
jo wrote: "Sorry for the confusion and happy to be able to clarify! .."Thanks jo! I'm extremely fuzzy headed these days--instead of covid euphoria I have covid brain fog--so I was trying to remember...and how wonderful to hear that you actually mixed me up with your sweet nephew, or sweet anybody!
lark wrote: "jo wrote: "Sorry for the confusion and happy to be able to clarify! .."Thanks jo! I'm extremely fuzzy headed these days--instead of covid euphoria I have covid brain fog--so I was trying to remem..."
haha you are def in the sweet people camp, lark!
I was wondering how I could write a review of this. In many ways a stunning book. I read it in 2 days. Gripped but didn’t like it in the slightest and feel somewhat compromised and dirty. Your review says it all.
Jaime wrote: "In many ways a stunning book. I read it in 2 days. Gripped but didn’t like it in the slightest and feel somewhat compromised and dirty. .."Frankly, I think what you've written right here is the perfect review of this novel! You've said it much more succinctly.
That's kind of how I felt when I read Brian Evenson's The Open Curtain earlier this year. I was riveted (like a train wreck), but really wanted to look away. I couldn't. It was brilliant but you are inside an unspooling mind & you are dragged down with it. Ultimately, I couldn't decide on a star rating. Just how?
Stacia wrote: "That's kind of how I felt when I read Brian Evenson's The Open Curtain earlier this year...."oh gosh, Stacia--I'm reading this now! I'm right at the beginning, so thanks for the warning!
Oh wow. Didn't realize you're reading it now! I read Evenson's book in one day. But, I had a headache at the end too. Brilliantly done, but hard to read. Hard to look away.
Two more suggestions for your "ruthless" shelf....
Comemadre by Roque Larraquy
Head in Flames by Lance Olsen
I just started reading it. Yes. It's "flat". So flat! And the author blows right past all the typical things you'd expect in a book like this. Protests? Dissent?I also can't decide if it's horror or just horror in the way that all genocide is horrific. The writing is so flat that none of the typical suspense found in horror is there leaving just the descriptions. Did the virus spread to humans' brains turning them into pure sociopath/sadists? That's my theory anyway and that would also account for the time of the book
Jennifer wrote: "I just started reading it. Yes. It's "flat". So flat!..."I think its value is in its complete ugliness. As if the author said: 'let's see if it's still possible to shock with words." I had different questions as I read--mainly: "is this main character going to learn a valuable hopeful lesson about humanity or is the book going to end as grotesquely and cynically as it began?"
Your questions lead to me realizing it doesn't really work as scifi. The only way it works is as a parable.
Don't forget the manipulative Head of State and everyone just accepting what they said. All the little Pieces, that shot me into mental nirvana... Oh god i hated the sister. Seen from the politic aspects, i would like to read a secodn novel and watching how it all falls apart and getting back to "normal" ?Wouldnt be a happy end exactly but interesting....
Your review is very good btw.
Michelle wrote: " i would like to read a secodn novel and watching how it all falls apart and getting back to "normal" ?Wouldnt be a happy end exactly but interesting....."
I don't see it happening from this author, but what I would love to read is a blood-soaked revenge sequel, where Marcos gets his just punishment.
This review made me read the book. I’m only about 70% through it and I came back to let you know this is the most spot on review I’ve ever seen.
Alex wrote: "This review made me read the book."Thanks for stopping by, Alex! I guess a review that begins with "one of the most relentless and ugly books I've ever read" is fair warning to a reader of what she is in for. I do admire the book for what it does.
Perfect comparison to the Human Centipede! They both capture that same sick feeling.
Well, I have no first-hand knowledge of The Human Centipede. I do very much love that Roger Ebert review of it that I linked to, though! Not just because it's hilarious, but also because it discusses a very real problem in criticism--how to judge works that entirely fulfill their aesthetic purpose, when their purpose is in this case to shock and disgust. And then there is the related question, not relevant here but definitely part of the zeitgeist of the moment, of how to evaluate art when its purpose is morally reprehensible, OR its creator is morally reprehensible.
I'd love a movie adaptation of this directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
I'm thinking Alejandro Jodorowsky maybe...
If you liked this cover, look for the spanish version cover, "Cadaver exquisito".
Veronica wrote: "If you liked this cover, look for the spanish version cover, "Cadaver exquisito"."Thanks Veronica. I like "Cadaver Exquisito" so much better as a title for this novel than "Tender is the Flesh". I'm not sure why the US publisher changed the title to something that for me evokes (for no good reason I can think of) F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Fantastic review Lark. When I read about this book on lit hub I didn’t give it much thought. Your review definitely tells me to steer clear. Thnx
lark wrote: "Stacia wrote: "That's kind of how I felt when I read Brian Evenson's The Open Curtain earlier this year...."oh gosh, Stacia--I'm reading this now! I'm right at the beginning, so thanks for the wa..."
Just curious if you ever finished The Open Curtain? I went to look for your review of it but didn't see one.
I am still sitting on the fence about reading Tender is the Flesh. I want to read it and I don't want to read it.
Stacia wrote: "Just curious if you ever finished The Open Curtain? I went to look for your review of it but didn't see one...."Stacia, I started The Open Curtain and put it down as it was something I needed to prepare myself for. In the meantime I think I've BOUGHT every single Brian Evenson book out there, including some of his very early story collections, and I've been dipping my toes into those. And listening to a very strange audiobook by him, too--Immobility. It's been a strange dance-around relationship so far as I get used ot his style and his various audacities. I like his writing a lot! My local store doesn't carry him at all. :-/
lark wrote: "Stacia wrote: "Just curious if you ever finished The Open Curtain? I went to look for your review of it but didn't see one...."Stacia, I started The Open Curtain and put it down as it was somethi..."
I haven't tried any of his other books yet. Anything particularly striking that you would reccomend ...?
Stacia wrote: "I haven't tried any of his other books yet. Anything particularly striking that you would reccomend ...? ..."I've really enjoyed reading the latest collection, Song for the Unraveling of the World, and there's an older story that I thought was magnificent, Mudder Tongue.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Also, I love that your profile picture is the gynecologist portrait by Sargent.
Jessica wrote: "Yes. Yes. Yes. Also, I love that your profile picture is the gynecologist portrait by Sargent."Doesn't he look like a reader? Also he's wearing the most perfect and comfortably posh reading outfit imaginable
Great review. I both adored and hated this book so much.
Trevor wrote: "Great review. I both adored and hated this book so much."On the 'adore' side for me is that Agustina Bazterrica wrote this book so unflinchingly from beginning to end.
