Lead Review (Flesh)
- Book: Flesh
- Location: London
- Author: David Szalay
3.5*
WINNER of the Booker Prize 2025
I chose this book because I heard the panel on Front Row on BBC Radio 4 unanimously extolling its virtues, its pared down prose, its incisiveness and how, as a reader, one could insert oneself into the character – given there is not a great deal of character development in the novel.
This is the story of István, who has grown up in Hungary and is now a teenager. His mother insists he helps his much older female neighbour with the shopping and one thing leads to another and she seduces him. He is not unwilling and once he is well into his sexual awakening, he develops feelings for the woman, who summarily spurns him at that point.
He is then jailed for killing someone – it wasn’t altogether deliberate but he didn’t bother to check whether the person was actually still alive after their exchange of blows, and once he has finished his prison sentence he enlists into the army, where, of course, hideous events are alluded to later in the narrative.
He finds himself in London, and through a tragic yet serendipitous event finds himself training in security and is appointed as a driver for the über-rich Nyman family, who live both on Cheyne Walk and in Ayot St Peter, Hertfordshire. He is soon seduced by the lady of the house and his pattern of acquiescence is once again on repeat.
The novel moves forward with a couple of unseen events that change the trajectory of his life.
I am glad I read this novel but I am not convinced by the Observer’s review: “So much searing insight into the way we live now…. a masterpiece“, I didn’t feel it resonated in how I, for one, live now. It is nevertheless an interesting construct, the prose is spare, the character of István is as pliable as the reader would like him to be (mirroring his experience with older women), and at the mercy of the other characters’ whims. I cannot, however, visualise István from the sparse rendering.
The issue that really bugged me – a lot – was the dialogue, with “okay” being the default setting and “sure” as a response following hard on okay’s heels. And the mind-numbing repetitive, reflecting back between the interlocutors was just tedious and ridiculous. For example:
‘Yeah.’
‘Why do you live here’
‘We study here.’
‘You study here?’
‘Yeah”.’
‘What do you study?’
‘Medicine.’
‘Medicine?’
‘Yeah.’
I was driven to read the book to its conclusion because there is something about it; it probably is a shoe-in for a Booker long list nomination (there have been some very curious choices over the years), and overall I just wanted something more. For me it didn’t warrant the slew of superlative and gushing reviews. It was, however, more than an ‘okay'(!) read.
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