"In his sixth book, Hungarian-British writer David Szalay takes a classic story arc one man's journey through life, from childhood to old age and presents it in a radically new and challenging way, scooping out the interiority that usually powers the novel form. We meet his protagonist, Istvan, as a bored 15-year-old in a Hungarian backwater. He is seduced by a middle-aged neighbour into a relationship suffused with shame and disgust; a confused act of violence knocks his life off course; he joins the military and is stationed in Kuwait; he moves to London and works as a bouncer before the rising tides of global capital carry him, for a while, into the monied elite."
"And all the while, we are cut off from his thoughts, emotions and motivations: we see only how others react to him, desire him, fear him. The most we tend to hear from Istvan himself is a bland, noncommittal OK. It's a risky strategy, but this narrative flatness hugely pays off: it entices the reader into the yawning gaps in the text as we work to solve the puzzle of Istvan, and it turns a story about one man's vulnerability in the face of the buffeting winds of fate, and of meaningless, out-of-the-blue tragedy, into a propulsive page-turner."
Flesh follows Istvan from a bored 15-year-old in a Hungarian backwater through sexualized shame, a disorienting act of violence, military service in Kuwait, migration to London and work as a bouncer, and a brief passage into the monied elite. The narrative removes interiority, presenting only how others react to Istvan while he offers minimal response, often a bland OK. That external viewpoint creates gaps that compel reader inference and transforms vulnerability, chance tragedy and masculinity under global capital into a propulsive, metaphysically probing story about identity, free will and life’s purpose.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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