Flesh

 Flesh by David Szalay (2025), 368 pages

I am not really sure the point of this book. It follows Istvan, a Hungarian, from his teenage years to old age. Normally I love a sweeping life story. This one I did not. There wasn't a lot of depth, and, honestly, it felt like it mainly dealt with his sex-life and how it affected/progressed his life. A lot of reviews have noted that the sparse dialogue provides a contemplative, detached voice that resonates with Istvan's humanity. I found it sluggish and tedious. It would be interesting to see how many times the following riveting conversations occur in the book:

"Yes?" - "yes."

"Yeah?" - "yeah."

"Ok?" - "ok."

I realize it won the Booker Prize, so obviously many folks liked it. I just wasn't one of them.