Flesh

“This year's booker prize winner in the UK—stunningly read”

“I’m deep into my library book addiction and “Flesh” by David Szalay blew my mind. Each chapter could be a stand-alone short story, which makes reading this book have a certain self-contained gorgeous pace and feel. Elements of it reminded me of Sally Rooney, with a little bit of the deep sadness of “A Little Life” sprinkled in. I went in knowing nothing about this book, and read it in 72 hours. If you’re in a slump, give this one a read. It will remind you why you love books and fiction.”

“I struggle to finish books usually, but this flew by.”

“I spoke too soon when I said that Endling was the best book I read this year. This is an astonishingly good book, though dark. An engrossing portrait of a person with the kind of internal life that we don’t often see portrayed in fiction. So glad I read it; I’ll be thinking about it for a while.”

“Booker Prize winner, and a fascinating, propulsive read. What makes it so remarkable is the way it tells the story through the eyes of a profoundly emotionally stunted man who has almost no insight into himself. He simply doesn’t have the emotional vocabulary to understand his own inner life. The result is an unusually restrained but deeply affecting novel that invites the reader to perceive the vast emotional landscape that lies beyond what the narrator himself can see or say.”

“fave book of 2025”

“A near perfect book.”

“Sparse, but rich.”

“Winner of the 2025 Book Prize, I appreciated the style of Szalay's writing and the life of main character, Istvan, beginning with his teenage years in Hungary as he adjusts to life in a new town located. We see early on that Istvan just seems to go along with things, which often results in unfortunate consequences throughout his life.”

“Come for the weird sexual exploration stay for the middle aged drama”