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sometimes the idea
is just too big
for a book to contain
all of its monsters

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There are some books that are just too big; that is, the ideas contained in the pages of these books are too big for the book itself. These ideas are wonderful, and they sell books. The over promise the reader something. The blurb catches your eye, it makes you buy the book.

But after reading the book, you feel robbed, as if the writer did not really achieve what they set out to do. It feels like the blurb was better than the book itself, like the idea in the book is better than the time spent reading the book.

This is not uncommon, I think. I have read a couple of books based purely on the premise, the blurb, the idea. But I felt robbed, robbed of my money and my time, but also the emotional investment that I made into the story, opening my mind only to be let down.

Maybe this is a failure on my part though, maybe I expected too much, maybe I am the one that asks too much of these books.

But is this really the case? Think about it, we as readers need to sit down, take time from out busy days, read the book, and invest our emotions into the story. We need to open our souls to be touched by these works of fiction.

But sometimes it just doesn't work, and the letdown feels worse than not having read the book, in my opinion. Sometimes the biggest names in writing also commit this violent act. I am thinking of Stephen King, who have on more than one occasion let me down. But this is because I approached the book wrong, because most of King's big and thick books are a journey you take with the characters, and not a race to the end. In a 1000 page novel, there is no redemption at the end, it is the journey that matters.

However, a book of less than 300 pages, with biggish spacing, can be read in a short time. Over the weekend if you have nothing planned. So there is no real journey as the journey with a thick novel. The story and how one tells it is even more important with these short books.

Over the last week or so, I read the book Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica. This was one of the most interesting books that I have read, and one of the quickest as well. Or so it felt. It was a real page turner, in the sense that I could not really put the book down. Around every corner (or page) I wanted to be shocked, because what else would you want from a book of this kind? One where humans are consumed...

But before carrying on with this review:

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WARING: Spoilers ahead, and topics of a nature that might upset sensitive readers...

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The premise of this book practically sold itself: what if humans started to farm humans and consume their meat? Behind this thin veil of gore and violence lies a strange kind of philosophical critique. At various times in the book I knew that the author were providing us with subtle critique of our modern farming practices. And this was done incredibly well done.

With a touch of absurd horror, gore, grotesque happenings, and absolute chaos, this book is a strange gem in a world full of people that cannot handle the sight of blood (this includes me).

But this is also the downfall of this book. The premise, in my unsubstantiated opinion, was just too big to handle. There were so many places where I thought or where I wished the author would write just a bit more, expand just an inch here, clarify why just a bit more...

There was so much left out there for me as the reader to complete, that I really wondered why the author did not just sit down and write a 1000 page novel.

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What is worse: a 1000 page novel
that feels like it will never end,
or a 300 page novel where you feel the author
robbed us of a 1000 page novel?

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As I put down the novel, I felt that I wanted more. There were so many questions. Why did that happen? What could have been meant here? Why did the author not go into more depth here?

In the end, the story is pretty simple: What would a world be like if we farmed humans and consumed their meat? But the is where the author failed, as I did not feel immersed in this strange world. It was too fast, too chaotic, too brutal.

To give an example. (Again, spoilers...Be warned...) The book covers various horrific scenes where humans are either hunter because they owed someone money, and the hunters consume the body afterwards, or where humans are basically bred like cattle and cows to be slaughter (or hunted) without limbs or vocal cords. The average person would think this is too much for them. And it is. But in the end, a scene where some teenagers brutally assault and kill puppies was worse than the entire book premised on the consumption of human meat.

This is where absurd ideas sometimes get lost in the weight they attempt to carry. The scene where puppies get killed is worse than an entire book of gore and obscenities. Why? I think the simple answer is that it tried too hard to be obscene. It wanted to do too much. Rather than immerse the reader into this crazy world, we are left to see the world from the perspective of a really depressed and lonely man, who in the end does something incredibly strange regarding the premise of the book, and we as the readers are left with a strange question: does this count as bestiality, obscenity, or what do we even make of this situation?

The book ends rather strangely, on the does indeed knock your socks off, and which you do not really expect. Which is a plus point for this book.

But beware if you are attempting to read this book: I think it is quite the oversell of an idea that could really have made an incredible book.

This does not mean that I did not enjoy this book. By all means, I could not put it down! I just think it could have been so much better... But I did not write this book, and the author clearly did not want my opinion! So, take my opinion with a big pinch of salt.

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Postscriptum, or Why Even Listen to Me?

The reader is not always right, and in this case, you need to be your own judge if this is a good or bad book.

I think personally that the premise was too big, and the absurdity of it all took away from what could have been a truly horrific, obscene (but in a good way) book. I wished I wrote this book, and that in itself is probably also a plus point to the author, I guess?

Alas...

On that note, buy more books and read them!

For now, happy reading and keep well.

All of the musings and writings are my own, and the opinions are also my own. Take them with a grain of salt. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.