Cannibalism:
noun
the practice of eating the flesh of one’s own species.

I love horror. I have always been a fan of scary movies, haunted houses, ghost tours, and true crime. So when my friend Heidi asked me why I had never read horror, I didn’t have an answer. It had just never occurred to me. She rectified that situation quick, fast, and in a hurry. She became one of the top people at Barnes & Noble to make me go, “Just take my money.” If I am being honest, just because I left hasn’t stopped her from trying (and succeeding) to keep that flow going.

One of the more taboo or maybe just unsettling tropes in horror is cannibalism. Everyone has that thing that just grosses them out and horrifies them like nothing else, and I feel that cannibalism is one of the top ones. The idea of consuming another human being is abhorrent to me, genuinely distressing and unimaginable. And yet, I have not read a horror featuring cannibalism that disturbed me.

I haven’t read much of this type of horror, but the ones I have read were good books as far as stories go.

The books I have read in this group would be:

• Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
• The Hunger by Alma Katsu
• The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim

With Tender is the Flesh, the cannibalism was so scientific and sanitized that mentally I disconnected the fact they were humans. In a story where cannibalism is legal and government-sanctioned, the thing that bothered me the most wasn’t the fact people were breeding people to eat. No, it was how the main character treated and interacted with his head. He was given a female that was bred to be slaughtered and eaten, but what he actually does is what horrified me. I won’t tell you what that was to avoid both spoilers and triggers, but it was deeply disturbing to me. This was a well written book and I enjoyed the thought the author put into it, so it is something I would revisit, but the cannibalism aspect just didn’t mess me up like I wanted.

The Hunger is a historical horror following the ill-fated Donner Party but with a twist. Skinwalkers. Beautiful writing, informative storytelling, characters you could root for (be it their success or their downfall), and the most ecstatic paranoia. I devoured this book, a favorite of my friend Heidi. (This is starting to seem like a pattern…) It gave me the chills, it grossed me out emotionally, and it educated me. I admit I knew nothing about the Donner Party prior to reading this book. You know what it didn’t do? Gross me out with unhinged cannibalism. No, these people were trapped and starving. They did what they had to in order to survive. I don’t know what I would do in that situation. I can’t judge them for that. I can say that it left me unfulfilled in the icky people-eating department, but I would absolutely read more books by Alma.

I loved every moment of The Eyes Are the Best Part. This story is told from the point of view of a Korean American young woman, and I found her cultural references beautiful and unique. What made the reading experience more fun was sharing it with my friend and co-worker JaeKyung. (We just call him Jae, but there is a reason for me being obnoxious and putting his full name.) Jae is also from a Korean American background, and he was more than happy to help me pronounce several Korean words, which I still actively butcher with my thick southern accent, and explain some of the cultural references in more depth for me. He was almost as invested in my reading experience as I was! And the cannibalism? This one came close to what I wanted from it. But not enough. I wanted her to be enthralled with it, I wanted her to wax poetic about it, but she seemed more unwillingly compelled to it. As I got further into the story, the more it seemed her mind seemed to splinter, so it didn’t give me that “she is eating people because she thinks they are delicious!” Nope, it was more “poor girl lost her mind and started eating people.” Still, I would happily reread this story and I will recommend it to everyone who will listen. Read it, it’s incredible.

So, am I just not finding what I am looking for? Am I setting the bar too high? Is there a book out there with cannibalism portrayed in a way that will disgust, horrify, and unsettle me? Will I ever find one that turns my stomach and makes my skin crawl? Do I really want to find that book? If you know any, leave them in the comments!

Until the next page,

Dani