Flesh - by David Szalay (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Teenaged Istvâan 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 soon becomes isolated, with his neighbor--a married woman close to his mother's age, whom he begrudgingly helps with errands--as his only companion. But as these periodical encounters shift into a clandestine relationship that Istvâan himself can barely understand, his life soon spirals out of control, ending in a violent accident thatleaves a man dead. What follows is a rocky trajectory that sees Istvâan emigrate from Hungary to London, where he moves from job to job before finding steady work as a driver for London's billionaire class. At each juncture, his life is affected by the goodwill or self-interest of strangers. Through it all, Istvâan is a calm, detached observer of his own life, and through his eyes we experience a tragic twist on an immigrant "success story," brightened by moments of sensitivity, softness, and Szalay's keen observation"--

Book Synopsis

From Booker Prize finalist David Szalay, a propulsive, hypnotic novel, about a man whose future is derailed by a series of events that he is unable to control.

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 soon becomes isolated, with his neighbor--a married woman close to his mother's age, whom he begrudgingly helps with errands--as his only companion. But as these periodical encounters shift into a clandestine relationship that István himself can barely understand, his life soon spirals out of control, ending in a violent accident that leaves a man dead.

What follows is a rocky trajectory that sees István emigrate from Hungary to London, where he moves from job to job before finding steady work as a driver for London's billionaire class. At each juncture, his life is affected by the goodwill or self-interest of strangers. Through it all, István is a calm, detached observer of his own life, and through his eyes we experience a tragic twist on an immigrant "success story," brightened by moments of sensitivity, softness, and Szalay's keen observation.

Fast-paced and immersive, Flesh reveals István's life through intimate moments, with lovers, employers, and family members, charted over the course of decades. As the story unfolds, the tension between what is seen and unseen, what can and cannot be said, hurtles forward until finally--with everything at stake--sudden tragedy again throws life as István knows it in jeopardy. Spare and penetrating, Flesh traces the imperceptible but indelible contours of unresolved trauma and its aftermath amid the precarity and violence of an ever-globalizing Europe with incisive insight, unyielding pathos, and startling humanity.

Review Quotes

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and Staff Pick

"The uncommonly gifted Hungarian-English novelist David Szalay... offers unvarnished scenes from a lonely, rags-to-riches life...Szalay's simplicity is, like Hemingway's, the fatty sort that resonates."
--The New York Times Book Review

"As István's life accumulates, [Flesh] only grows more captivating, more hypnotic, the question of freedom more charged... Instead of providing answers, Szalay poses inquiry, after inquiry, denying us what a lesser writer might feel compelled to provide..virtuosic."
--The Baffler

"Reckoning, in a clear-eyed and reasonable way, with the reality of fate's cold indifference...[Szalay is] a master of the flinty, spare sentence...at its heart, Flesh is about more than just the things that go unsaid: it is also about what is fundamentally unsayable, the ineffable things that sit at the centre of every life, hovering beyond the reach of language"
--The Guardian

"Spare and detached on the page, lush in resonance beyond it, Szalay's new novel reads a bit like an immigrant bildungsroman flavored with Albert Camus."
--NPR

"Szalay's cool, remote novel tells the rags-to-riches story of a lonely young man who grows up with his mother in a housing estate in Hungary. Among its primary subjects is male alienation: Even as the hero advances toward the redoubts of privilege, he feels like a bystander to his own life, with the detachment of a survivor. Yet Szalay lets us feel his inchoate longing for meaning and connection."
--Editor's Choice, New York Times Book Review

"[Szalay is] the shrewdest writer on contemporary masculinity we have...Flesh follows its protagonist, István, from a Hungarian boyhood characterised by isolation, hardship, and misunderstanding to a London adulthood characterised by isolation, luxury, and misunderstanding...Written in Szalay's boldly spare style, Flesh is as potent a portrait of the myth of free will as I can remember. It's also a page-turner. You'll race through it."
--Esquire (UK)

"[David Szalay] is a master at probing the insecurities and regrets of men... A boon for fans of Szalay's straightforward, humane fiction in that it has yielded his best work to date in Flesh, a gentle yet deeply affecting novel...If you've ever woken up to the realization that your life has become something you never planned for, anticipated, or desired, you'll likely find Flesh all too human."
--The Boston Globe

"A man's life is dramatised in a few crucial stages, from a youthful sexual relationship with an older woman in Hungary to a stint as a multi-millionaire in Britain and then on to uncertainty after a personal tragedy. The author's elegant, stripped-back prose powers a narrative rich in insight and pathos."
--The Economist

"Hypnotic...We witness István proceed through the world like a half-feral animal, helpless to his instincts, terrible and strangely pitiable...Mr. Szalay turns a cold gaze on that those urges and makes no promises that we'll be comfortable with what he sees."
--Wall Street Journal

"An indelible portrait of male alienation."
--People

"Unsparing...[a] cold, propulsive tale of estrangement and alienation, Szalay captures not just the utter strangeness, but also the possibilities, of modern life."
--Foreign Policy

"A potent new page-turner by David Szalay presents a distinctively complex depiction of modern masculinity."
--4 Columns

"Szalay's straightforward, spare prose helps propel the novel as the effects of that tragedy reverberate throughout his life... The power of Flesh is Szalay's ability to let these moments speak for themselves, letting these simple interactions tell a tragic story."
--Associated Press


"Szalay offers a heartbreaking and revelatory portrait of a taciturn Hungarian man who serially attempts to build a new life after his traumatic adolescence... Propulsive... This tragedy will leave readers in awe."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Flesh is at once intricate and spacious, it flows both fast and deep. There's brilliance on every page. Szalay is an ingenious conductor of time, and of the fates and forces that give shape to a life."
--Samantha Harvey, author of Booker Prize-winning author of Orbital

"I can't think of another book that has lately haunted me more than David Szalay's Flesh--a book that so majestically and so beautifully depicts our journeys through this ever-changing world; and how we're all caught and carried by time and tide. When the world tests us, this is the story we'll return to, the one that will make us want to keep faith and believe, not only in the power of literature, but in each other."
--Paul Yoon, author of The Hive and the Honey

"In István David Szalay has created a modern existential antihero in the grand tradition of Camus and Dostoevsky. Amid the random accidents and desultory decisions that shape his life, and come to feel like fate, he is at once a cool observer and a towering presence. Taut, spare and perfectly structured, Flesh reads like a gripping thriller which slowly gathers to itself the emotional power of classical tragedy."
--Carys Davies, author of Clear

"Flesh is a wonderful novel--so brilliant and wise on chance, love, sex, money."
--David Nicholls, author of You Are Here

About the Author

David Szalay is the author of Turbulence, London and the South-East, and All That Man Is. He's been awarded the Gordon Burn Prize and The Paris Review Plimpton Prize for Fiction and has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Born in Canada, he grew up in London, and now lives in Vienna. His most recent novel is Flesh.