Thank you to all the lovely people who discussed with and warned me of the worst bits in my previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/s/FjJa1pFA7b
I finally finished the book and it has me feeling all sorts of ways; pissed off because there was hope there for a second (but as another clever redditor pointed out, it was false all along), sad for the characters on both sides suspended in continuous helpless agony, whether mental or physical, but most of all actually kind of scared because the process of legitimizing atrocities on shaky grounds has and no doubt will happen again. And all most of us can do is find some sort of semi-stable line to toe to be able to bear it all.
I’m not sure if I think the book is more of a bleak view on the meat industry, the way society can turn on itself for preservation of the status qou or both, and my own love for meat sure took a hit, especially when I coincidentally found myself eating actual cow’s tongue (which is a delicacy in my culture, don’t shoot me) while reading the part on the hunter’s dinner party, but regardless of what evil is being dissected, it is portrayed well and in a stark, unforgiving light.
To me, this book reads primarily as a story of loss and it’s sometimes dehumanizing consequences on both a tiny and a grand scale. I understand why the characters do what they do and except for Mari (who reads as an archetype of the old generation who acts is if she has no finger in the game yet clutches her pearls and goes completely hysterical every time a consequence of her own time rears it’s ugly head), I somewhat empathize with their chosen paths however dark they may be. It makes sense in the context of the story and I appreciate how Bazterrica doesn’t compromise on or try to redeem any of the storylines along the way.
I would however wish that more time was spent on an eagle’s eye view of the society and different castes within it, and I would love to read more stories from the same universe, how it came to be as it is.
With that said, this book is still in my top 3 most disgusting reads of all time and I would not recommend it freely or read it again. And as for the last sentence; should we really have expected anything else?
*PS. I just realized I didn’t really consider the heads as active characters while writing this post – that’s how effective this story is.*
by mustytomato