Summary of this article

Flesh follows István, a Hungarian immigrant, from awkward teen to middle-aged man, exploring life, desire, and survival.

Szalay’s minimalist style leaves readers to interpret character emotions and moral choices, making it deeply immersive.

The novel examines modern European society, class divides, and male identity through decades of István’s journey.

Critics like to call Hungarian-British author David Szalay ‘a writers’ writer’. On being awarded the 2025 Booker Prize for his novel  Flesh , Szalay said that he had wanted “to write about life as a physical experience, about what it’s like to be a living body in the world.” The body in question in  Flesh  is that of István, a working-class Hungarian immigrant who struggles to find his footing in a fast-changi

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