About the book
David Szalay's sixth novel follows István, first seen as a shy and awkward adolescent on a Hungarian housing estate. He usually acts on instinct and reflects only afterwards, and the novel follows his life onward from there. Szalay has said he wanted the book to convey his sense that human existence is physical before it is anything else. Its dialogue is spare, with István tending to reply rather than start conversations and leaning on stock phrases. Some critics admired the lean prose, while others regretted how many key events in his life go unshown. The novel won the 2025 Booker Prize.
Dua Lipa said the novel kept her guessing, pointing to dialogue unlike anything she had read and to how Szalay strips speech down and leaves out nearly all physical description of the characters.
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This book has 1 recommendation
This is a book that constantly keeps you guessing. Even down to the dialogue, which is like nothing I’ve ever read before. In Flesh, David pares speech back to the bone, and there are almost no physical descriptions of any of the characters – you’re left to picture them for yourself.
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