Flesh

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2025, Flesh follows a Hungarian man whose life is marked from adolescence by a disturbing sexual relationship that shapes how he relates to others and drifts through the world.

The first section hooked me. The writing is taut and unsettling, and I kept thinking, "where is this going"? Well into the book I was still wondering. And THEN, I realized, "oh, it’s one of those books". Szalay uses a “life told in moments” structure: instead of dramatic peaks, we get a steady drip of experience, movement, and feeling. The plot focuses less on dramatic change than on accumulated experience, drift through different social strata, and the body’s and psyche’s quiet response to events. Once I understood that, the novel’s shape made sense, even if it still left me slightly adrift.

István is a difficult protagonist to connect with. He moves through life passively, with things happening to him rather than because of him, and his emotional flatness can be frustrating. Yet the book’s strength lies in tracing how his early trauma ripples through later relationships, and how the body holds what the mind cannot articulate. The title becomes its thesis: the body (flesh) is a metaphor for where trauma happens, desire shows up, status is carried, and aging betrays.

Even the cover reinforces these themes: an apple core revealing the silhouettes of two people, a striking image of what’s been consumed and what remains, and how human connection exists in hollowed-out spaces. It mirrors a story preoccupied with what endures after damage, and what’s left once everything essential has been stripped away.

Ultimately, Flesh is spare, haunting, and occasionally brilliant. It’s an introspective study of damage, disconnection, and the ways early trauma shapes a life, and while it didn’t fully grip me emotionally, I appreciate the depth of its themes and the precision of Szalay’s writing.

Though I’m torn on the rating and it could easily be a 3.5, I’m going with 3 because it more accurately reflects how much I enjoyed the book.