For 15 years, Erwan has been working in the cold room of a slaughterhouse, to the sound of carcasses smacking into each other. His life is one among many, all linked to this assembly-line, that, from slaughter to meatpacking, supplies supermarkets with ready-made kebabs. But Erwan doesn’t work there anymore: when the novel starts, he is in prison from where he tells his tragic story that of a man from working class driven to madness by his routine job.
Erwan speaks about the repetition of tasks, motions and discussions with his colleagues, the ever-accelerating pace… He remembers his youth, his hopes, his love story with Laëtitia, a former slaughterhouse worker like him, but also his anxiety attacks, that seem to worsen year after year. To The Beast is the story of a young man made vulnerable by his work, a man who reached the tipping point and whose life is about to derail completely.
