David Szalay has developed a niche in that he writes about men at the crossroads and how the experience makes or breaks them. In the other two of his books that I've read, he has consistently honed this angle and here continues it. István and his mother begin their lives in Hungary where his affair at age 15 with a married neighbor leads to dire circumstances and a rapid coming of age. Szalay writes with an almost dispassionate reserve, with clipped responses that belie the turmoil beneath the surface. Stages of István's life are reached through seemingly arbitrary leaps, but the inner life is examined microscopically in beautiful prose. I'll continue reading his books as long as he continues writing.

Gorgeous, searing, reflective and important. I adored this. A fresh take on a literary fic coming of age.

Imagine being stuck in an out of body experience…forever. For 368 pages, Flesh (David Szalay, Scribner, 2025) shows the reader what it’s like to view life’s most vulnerable and intimate moments through an outsider perspective. Szalay walks the reader through Istvan’s entire life, forcing his audience to sit uncomfortably in the character’s struggle to find his place in the world. From grade school to the military, rags to riches and back to rags, Istvan mirrors those around him but never gets the chance to properly form his own identity. Reading this book was an invitation to live inside Istvan’s mind, the reader will sit in discomfort but also be enticed to come back for more.

Even when Istvan’s circumstances change, he never does. A boy pushed into manhood, full of anger and shame that continues to be fueled by years of unresolved trauma. He continues to run from his struggle, focused on survival rather than living, holding his emotions at an arm's length away. It is heartbreaking to watch as he detaches himself from not only the bad but also the good. For a split second at the end of the book, Szalay makes the reader believe Istvan will finally get a chance to enjoy his life when he becomes a father, something that he never had. He vows to protect his son and provide him with an abundance of joy, and it genuinely seems like a positive plot twist, until the little boy is tragically stripped from Istvan’s life, leaving him alone yet again. A heavy-hearted refugee from beginning to end.

Although this book is written passively, it’s hypnotic and fully immersive, making it impossible to look away. Istvan’s character is uncomfortably real and interestingly enough, he stays the same through the entire book but it works, shedding light on those who are constantly tormented by what is out of their control. This book moves fast, years of Istvan’s life are cut out, but it wouldn’t make sense any other way, the fragmented style emphasizes Istvan’s disconnect from his experiences and the third person narrative is effective in creating an out of body experience for the reader. The small amount of dialogue is fully believable, his monosyllabic responses showcase Istvan’s uncertainty in knowing what he wants and is reminiscent of the change he endures at the beginning of the book due to the abuse he faces. As a reader, I instantly connected to Istvan, hoping that he would find his way to a fuller life, but also knowing that Szalay did the right thing in delivering a devastating and realistic ending.

The gut-wrenching story of a man who was held back by the wounds others inflicted onto him, stuck in a crippling cycle of never belonging. This is the type of book that a reader will remember for years to come, revisiting its pages and reflecting on the heaviness of each line. A tragic tale that deserves to be read by many.

Unfortunately, a let down. I appreciated the book’s framing as an exploration of the mundane decades of a man’s coming of age and adulthood — however, I was left endlessly waiting for some semblance of a deeper observation into his own life. Szalay was certainly on the precipice of many valuable topics — the confines of masculinity and how this avoidance of vulnerability and engagement only worsens without care. And yet the end left the main character no further than where we found him as a teenager — perhaps the point, but I was left wondering what my takeaway was supposed to be after hundreds of pages of simple sequences of events, mundane dialogue, and choices without any reflection.

István is a teenager living with his mother in their apartment in Hungary when we meet him in Flesh. He's socially awkward, answers everything monosyllabically, and doesn't appear to have any agency. Things happen *to* him.

If you've seen Pete Davidson's character Chad on SNL, you've seen Peter Szalay's István. Especially in that first chapter when he's seduced by a much older woman (she's 42!!!) who hires him to help with the groceries.

In each chapter we jump through István's life, in stark, stripped down prose. István doesn't appear to change much, but his circumstances do. Things continue to happen to him as he joins the army, moves to Germany, then London. Fate seems to land István in a variety of jobs, interacting with increasingly rich clientele until he finds himself on that other side.

Flesh is mesmerizing. The prose is straightforward, with the action happening between the lines. We're pulled along with István as he goes through life. It's sneaky - like István, we become observers as we're propelled forward in time. It's slice of life, it's an immigrant tale, it's tragic, it's funny.

I remember liking Szalay's Turbulence, a novel of interconnected occurrences of people traveling around the globe. I'll be seeking out more of his work.

My thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the Advance Reader Copy. (pub date 4/1/2025)

Szalay offers a portrait of István who we are introduced to as a 15 year old adjusting to a new town in Hungary where he lives a solitary life with his mother. When the novel opens, István’s mother insists that he help a neighbor with her shopping. The woman initiates a relationship with István who is initially ashamed “that he is doing this with someone old and ugly like her.” Eventually, the time he spends with the woman is what gives his “days any sense of purpose or meaning.” When she breaks the relationship off, István goes to her apartment and confronts her husband with horrific consequences.

After he is released from a young offenders’ institution, where he learned that he had an aptitude for fighting and learned how to intimidate people, he has difficulty finding legitimate work, and joins the army, serving in Iraq. A therapist assist him with the PTSD that ensued after the loss of his friend who was killed when an explosive device detonated. Szalay follows István through late middle-age, and we watch him go from being a bouncer at the front door of a club to providing personal protection to “VIPs, celebrities and other high-net worth individuals” and having casual relationships, often with his clients’ wives.

Perhaps because of his early trauma, István seems detached and muted. He does not express emotion nor are we privy to his interior life. He seems to lack agency, responding to most inquiries by replying, “okay” which, as one of his lovers points out, “That’s what you say about everything.” As a homage to his protagonist, Szalay does not employ crackling prose. The writing is hollow, flat and passive. Yet, there was something about István that kept me turning the pages. He is more than simply flesh. Thank you Scribner and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this ambitious novel.

This story wasn't necessarily what I was expecting. It was a well crafted, engrossing story that was simple and still managed to have the complexities of its more detailed competitors. It was a refreshing, introspective book.

This was an interesting read... not something I would normally get my hands on. But thank you to Scribner and Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy for review.

Following the MMC's life, it's heartbreaking to see how detached from it he truly is and how he holds emotions from an arms length. A boy who was pushed into manhood, and actions that led him down a path I wonder would have ever been imagined if certain things did not happen. Weirdly I went from almost DNF'ing due to how the character was written and spoken to not being able to put it down.

It was reflective and heartbreaking and relatable all in one.

This book seems to have a bit of shock value and alot of unlikeable characters. I found myself dislking one more than another and the whole story a bit of a stretch. The beginning, like a bad fellini movie... I wish I could be more positive but I didnt find the story or the material terribly entertaining and was dissapointed given some of the early press I read for the book.

The protagonist, Istvan is such a complex and deeply flawed human, he felt so real to me. Flesh is a good novel, but it didn’t leave a lasting impact on me. Even though I liked the protagonist, I had difficulty with the writing style. The prose was very choppy. I wanted more substance to the writing. Everything felt very stilted and matter of fact. I liked the dark themes of loneliness and longing, but overall, I thought this book was a struggle to get through.

This is a very well written odd story of a young man who immigrates from Hungary to London. He is a very subdued, isolated young man who is rather an observer of his own life. The author's writing mirrors this isolation. There is so much to break down in this book. The main character is full of contradictions which grow as the book develops. This would make a great book club read.

I read this book fairly quickly and yeah I don’t know how to feel about it? It wasn’t bad as it kept my interest and although the MC was very bland and unlikeable it reminded me of mid men in real life that based on looks or masculinity get what they want and more? It was almost upsetting how through having no personality or ambition István finds himself stumbling through life into beneficial situations. The repetitive dialogue and answering the same over and over was also upsetting but it served to spell out just how uninteresting and thoughtless he was. (Ok? Ok. Yes? Yes. What you feel? What do I feel?) I wanted to scream sometimes lol the time jumps were also disorienting and from very early on you knew he’d end up back in square one. Anyway if you like Unlikable MCs who get what they want and learn nothing along the way- check this out.

**3/5 Stars – Well-Written but Emotionally Distant**

David Szalay’s *Flesh* is a thoughtfully crafted novel with sharp prose and an unflinching look at desire and human connection. While the writing is undeniably strong, the characters feel distant, making it hard to fully engage with their struggles. An interesting read, but one that leaves more admiration than emotional impact.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC! I hate leaving negative reviews so I won't be publishing this on my account (I am a firm believer in "No two people read the same book" and I don't want to sway anyone not to read this.) Although the writing was very engaging and the story flowed, I found the story very depressing. I wish there were more characters to root for as well. It needed something else.. But thank you again.

This book sucked me in from the first page til the last. I did not expect it to stick with me as much as it has. The main character appeared to wander through his own life and we got very little insight on how he felt or what motivated him. This, at times, was infuriating. The conversations between the characters were repetitive and surface-level, from our perspective as a reader. I have never read a book written exactly this way and while it irritated me at times, I was incredibly invested and could not put the book down. Will absolutely read more from this author!!

This is one of those stories where you don't know whether you like the main character or not. He is frustrating but you also feel pity for him at time. A very good read.

a whole lot of life and a whole lot of sex but also the main character is so dry and has no redemption or slight change in character


did not vibe well with the writing style either. very blunt and the dialogue was so lacking.

Flesh
David Szalay
Scribner Books
04/01/2025

This one took a hot minute to let it sink and unpack and understand. I am surprised to be saying that this was a fast-paced read with little dialogue that took me to a place where I must think about it. It’s one of those things that if you read it you will understand. That being said, I really started to delve into the word ‘flesh’ and all of the contexts that it could be used and try to integrate that into what I had I just read.

The term "flesh" can refer to the physical body or our earthly existence. It can also be used to describe the sinful inclinations within us. In this context, the NIV translates the Greek word for "flesh" as "sinful nature" whenever it is understood to refer to these internal desires

This story follows Istvan a very quiet and introverted individual from his teenager years and on. While he says very little, there is so much to process and understand the meaning behind his actions, the actions around him and what he observes. His life follows a trajectory that he does not control. Flesh explores the lasting effects of unresolved trauma, is marked by instability and violence and is with sharp insight, deep emotion, and surprising humanity.

I think I need to ponder this one (I said this like a month ago when I initially finished this). István is just about the most detached character I've read and the dialogue in this book is like cold and distant; I find it difficult to explain. However, there was something incredibly captivating about following a persons' life, successes and downfalls, in such an impersonal way. Szalay reflects on István's life almost like a presentation, without judgement or deep reflection on why he is the way he is...which I think can be polarizing for some readers. I still have a hard time reflecting on the book as a whole--I read it quickly and continue to ponder it weeks later, so it has certainly made some sort of profound impact on me.

Flesh is both a repugnant and sensual word; it connotates a sense of bland making and unmaking, of possibility and desire. Our bodies, our flesh, represent our strongest and most basic desires, and these urges fuel the development of Istavan's remarkable peaks and troughs. Istavan is both a bystander in his life and an agent of change, as our bodies are both utilitarian and essential.

Szalay's sparse and unapologetic style is captivating (both as a reader and writer). This book won't be for everyone, especially the ending, but I'm glad to have read it.