Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia, translated from the Portuguese by Zoë Perry
Visceral writing that creates a thick tension of dread.
Of Cattle and Men is a novella that tells the story of a stun operator, Edgar Wilson, at a slaughterhouse on the outskirts of rural Brazil. Ana Paula Maia incorporates clever elements of horror and mystery for a dark and grotesque atmosphere. As the story unfolds, Edgar finds himself struggling with guilt over the violent duties he oversees at his job. The visceral writing creates a thick tension of dread that weighs heavy on you.
Maia asks whether eating meat is ethical. Humanity has removed itself so far from the food chain that you begin to wonder if that’s the real reason behind all the illness and unhappiness plaguing society. As a reader, you ask whether it’s right to pay people to kill for you.
The material is original, interesting, and highly enriching once Edgar begins to realize that something is terribly wrong with the cows. Factory workers volunteer to pull all-nighters to see if they can catch a glimpse of what might be hurting the cows. Despite this good intention, the workers who help Edgar are the same workers who live at the factory, which ends up being a bad thing: they can never escape the noise and bloody vehemence while everyone seeks hard answers. Observing the strange behavior doesn’t stop the phenomenon from growing in magnitude, especially when it starts to happen more frequently. By the time the crew is overcome by the same unknowable possession, they start to question their place in the world.
This book is not for everyone, since it offers a haunting portrayal of denial. The prose is shrewd in how it deliberates on what happens when the animal-to-human bond breaks down and deteriorates. The entire moral compass of this book rests on the idea that if animals were given free will, or somehow learned it, they might rebel.
This review originally appeared in the Fall 2026 Global Reads issue of Shelf Unbound, our free magazine celebrating the best indie and small press books.
Publisher: Charco Press