Szalay is a new to me author. He recently won the coveted Booker Award for 2025, otherwise I probably would never have read his work. But since my husband and I follow the Booker Prize closely, we immediately got a hold of Flesh. Here is my book review Flesh by David Szalay.

Sex

I’ll be right up front about this. There is A LOT of explicit sex in this book. If that bothers you, this book is not for you.

Sparse

Sparse is the word I have chosen to describe this novel. The dialogue is sparse, and the story itself is pretty bare bones. I found the narrative style a bit difficult, dialogue of one and two word sentences for much of the book. Szalay is known for this kind of writing, but it’s not my favorite.

Story

The story follows Hungarian born Istevan through out his life, starting when he is 15 years old. Istevan encounters multiple circumstances through out his life that will take him from rags to riches. He does not always make the best choices, although he is not an unlikable character. He is however an unfortunate character, whose own actions thrust him from problem to problem throughout his life.

It’s a fairly short, and unhappy book of one man’s life. From humble beginnings to incredible wealth and back to simple life.

Book Review Flesh by David Szalay

I did not love this book. But you might. It’s an interesting choice for such an important award. I have read a lot of Booker Prize winning books, but recently I have not been a fan of the choices. That said, Szalay is definitely talented, and this book certainly has people talking.

**Two stars for Flesh by David Szalay.

Thank you for reading my book review Flesh by David Szalay.

See last week’s book review Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. We love it when you pin, share and comment on our book reviews. Thank you.