Synopsis
Teenaged István lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. Shy and new in town, he is a stranger to the social rituals practiced by his classmates and is soon isolated, drawn instead into a series of events that leave him forever a stranger to peers, his mother, and himself. In the years that follow, István is born along by the goodwill, or self-interest, of strangers, charting a rocky yet upward trajectory that lands him further from his childhood, and the defining events that abruptly ended it, than he could possibly have imagined.
Reflections
Review ★★★½
I started a tradition in 2023 when I decided to read every year the winner of the Booker Prize. Having enjoyed Peter Lynch’s Prophet Song (2023 winner), and appreciated Orbital (2024 winner) for its sleep-inducing properties, what could I expect from this year’s winner, Flesh by David Szalay?
István is for me the Hungarian version of Barry Lyndon. The book is a rags-to-riches story that would make Kubrick blush. While Kubrick’s film is a visual masterpiece that doesn’t hide its beauty to the viewer, Szalay’s minimalistic prose resembles an ice berg - you can barely see how deep it goes. This was for me the biggest accomplishment: inviting the reader to think beyond what is written, leaving it up to everyone’s own imagination.
This is surprisingly enough to win the Booker, but insufficient to spark further intellectual discourse.
Details
- Flesh by David Szalay
- ISBN: 978-1-9821-2279-9
- Started: 2026-01-02
- Finished: 2026-01-06