Book Review #2: Flesh by David Szalay

You know what they say about Booker Prize winners? You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. So too with 2025 Booker winner Flesh. 

For a start, it breaks all the rules of a novel.. 

1. The protagonist, Istvan, is not too likable. Initially, we do have some sympathy for him as we see how, as a young boy of 15, he’s seduced by a much older woman, but his later actions do not elicit any sympathy. 
2. There is no character arc as such. istvan remains much the same. Rather unfeeling, no compunctions on using others for his own benefit, not very forthcoming (his favorite word seems to be ‘okay.’), very little introspection. 
3. All the characters sound the same- Thomas, Istvan’s step-son, Jacob his real son— they speak like Istvan. So too the other characters, none of whom have distinct voices. 
4. There’s more ‘tell’ than ‘show’ in this novel.
5. The protagonist is too negatively masculine.

However , what made me continue turning the pages of this book until I came to its very satisfying conclusion? Was it the spare prose that conveyed far more than exuberant words? Was it the staccato beat of the sentences, much like Hemingway’s, conveying just action? Perhaps because this book is so different from the novels I’ve read, perhaps because of the surprising turns in the plot, or maybe because the sentences were like the  tip of an iceberg, conveying more beneath the surface than what is visible on top? Whatever it is, I ultimately enjoyed this book although I don’t think it’s for everybody.