Tender Is the Flesh

by Agustina Bazterrica

He wishes he could teach her to read, but what’s the point if she can’t speak and will never be part of a society that sees her only as an edible product?

What’s the point of teaching her to read? Are you fucking serious?!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh idk maybe so she could have some personal fucking autonomy

He would come up with something to ensure no one took it away.

But fuck Jasmine ami right?!

He didn’t want to risk something happening to his child and took all the necessary precautions.

Note: HIS child, not THEIR child

He also bought cameras that connect to his phone so that while he’s at the plant he can see what Jasmine is doing in the room. She spends hours watching television, sleeping, drawing, staring at a fixed point. At times, it seems she’s thinking, like she really can.

At times it seems like she’s thinking—are you fucking kidding me?!!!!! Of course she can and is!!! Fuck this book

it. He hears one of the hunters, who’s sitting close by, whisper to another that the stunning blonde was in fact a young virgin of fourteen who needed to be tenderized and that Guerrero Iraola destroyed her in bed, raping her for hours. The man says he was there and that the child was half dead when they took her away to be slaughtered.

Interestingly, all the other instances of rape in this book are violent to the extreme. Raped to death/raped nearly to death. It seems as though the author perceives violent sexual assault as the only form. The protagonist of this book raped Jasmine and forcibly impregnated her and is forcing her to be a surrogate for his child. All while keeping her locked up all day and refusing to even try to teach her to read. He is also a rapist but I wonder if the author sees it that way. Doubtful

To his surprise, the fingers are exquisite. He realizes how much he misses eating meat.

He’s only had a few hours of sleep after the long drive from the game reserve when he wakes with a start. A car horn is honking. Jasmine, who’s at his side, looks at him, her eyes open wide. She’s used to keeping still, to watching him, because she sleeps all day and at night he needs her not to move much. That’s why he started tying her to the bed, and she got used to it. He doesn’t want Jasmine wandering through the house when he can’t keep an eye on her. He doesn’t want her to get hurt or for something to happen to his child.

When he’s sure the inspector has left and that the man’s car is past the gate, he goes back to his room, unties Jasmine, and hugs her. He hugs her tight and puts his hand on her belly. He cries a little and Jasmine looks at him. Though she doesn’t understand, she touches his face gently, and it’s almost like a caress.

The only way this book can be redeemed for me is if Jasmine slits his throat

It’s late when he gets home, and he’s tired. Jasmine is asleep. He knows because he’s been monitoring her all day on his phone.

How romantic

It’s like they’re in a trance. Like they’ve become these savage monsters.”

“Everything’s gonna be just fine, little one, just fine, your birth’s gonna go well, everything’s gonna be just fine.”

Little one?! He needs to be executed

her arms. They ignore her, but she opens her mouth and moves her hands. She tries to get up, and then she does, and bumps into the night table with her hips, and knocks over the lamp. They look at her silently.

“Go get some more towels and water to clean her before you take her out to the barn,” Cecilia tells him.

Jasmine is only able to stretch out her arms desperately toward her son. She tries to get up again but is cut by the pieces of glass on the floor from the broken lamp.

He sits down behind Jasmine. She looks back at him in despair. First he puts his arms around her and kisses the mark on her forehead. He tries to calm her down. Then he gets onto his knees on the floor and says, “Easy does it, everything’s gonna be just fine, take it easy.” With a wet rag he wipes the sweat from her forehead. He sings “Summertime” into her ear. When she calms down a little, he stands up and grabs her by the hair. Jasmine, now only able to move her hands, is trying to reach her

son. She wants to speak, to scream, but there are no sounds. He picks up the club he brought from the kitchen and hits her on the forehead, right where she’s been branded. Jasmine falls to the floor, stunned, unconscious. Cecilia jumps when she hears the thud and looks at him without understanding. “Why?” she yells. “She could have given us more children.” As he drags the body of the female to the barn to slaughter it, he says to Cecilia, his voice radiant, so pure it wounds: “She had the human look of a domesticated animal.”

Sooooooo….I’m a fool and misinterpreted the earlier parts of the book. While this book is still gory and fucked up and disturbing, the ending definitely alters my opinion of it. I’m finding it difficult to find a star rating for it. I think the world building/and messaging was good but also was lacking and left me doubtful and with questions. However the overall message,themes, style, and the way the ending left me feeling makes me want to give it 5 stars. I want to write an essay about this book. If only i had read this in college, it would have been so fun to analyze in a group setting. So many thoughts and feelings about this book, hard to read but impossible to put down. This will be burned into my brain forever.