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I always read the Booker winner, but I had a hard time finding this one. Hubby found it in a bookstore in Ireland. It arrived yesterday all the way from Galway. I hope it was worth the hunt. It‘s on my TBR for those lazy holiday pajama days. #BookMail

The book follows Istvan through various stages of his life. He says little more than “yeah” or “okay.” In one sense it‘s easy to read; very short blunt sentences, little in the way of dialogue. In another sense it‘s hard to read; who is Istvan, what is he thinking? Yet of course, this is the point. Definitely a book that benefits reading a review or two as you go along I think. In short - odd and intriguing, glad I read it, glad it‘s finished.

This is why I follow the Women's Prize each year more than any other.

I enjoyed this. As others have said the writing style is paired down and sparse. I think that reflects both the idea of the Eastern European and the Man. This is a character study and can be taken quite philosophically.
It is also a bit depressing! István goes along to get along and that leads to some really unfortunate situations. I really appreciate how Szalay portrayed mental health in aan we would assume avoids it.

I finished this just b4 the prize announcement. I see the merit in the life story of Istzan, a Hungarian immigrant, + found the book v absorbing but I dont know if I actually liked the book. Its a book abt modern masculinity, so he is monosyllabic drawn into sexual relationships and struggles to express his feelings, including significant losses. It certainly is a book to discuss in a time where toxicity of negative male influences is prevalent.

Well. That was depressing.
Very effective writing style, but I have some reservations about the plot. Soft pick.
Can I see why it won the #Booker ? Yes, but I would still have gone with Audition 😂

https://youtu.be/QZkjTuw3Tvw?si=97d1Shc_4_tBKZbE

Thoughts on this year's Booker winner.

Still ill and droopy lol.

Oh. Ah well.

#notmyfavourite !

Just announced the winner of this year‘s Booker Prize

I‘m quite happy about this since I enjoyed it while I read it

I just started this, my fourth book from the #Booker shortlist. I like the writing style, but damn that first chapter was uncomfortable! 🫤

I was hooked by the opening chapter where an older woman is seducing a young boy. This is almost like a reverse Bartleby the Scrivner as the main character passively agrees to almost anything.

The feeling when:

You take your eye off the library hold list for one minute and everything comes rushing in.

Full on Murphy's Law.

Nope.

#Booker2025

'It's okay,' she says. "There's no point talking about these things without honesty. About anything.'
He points out that quite a few of the pictures seem almost pornographic.
'That's true, she says.
She seems to think for a minute, and then she says, 'Most of the things here are either devotional objects, or more or less pornographic, or social trophies, or some combination of those things.

The owner of the winery takes the people who work in the warehouse and the office to see them doing it - he says he wants them to be aware of what actually happens on the land. The day they go up there the workers are burning the pruned stems in piles on the grass at the sides. The white smoke rises into the air. The sun shines through the rising smoke. There's the scent of the smoke and the quiet crackle of the burning stems.

#Booker2025

Well, now I'm bummed out.

Istvan's story is one that holds the reader at a distance, while also giving us a visceral impression of his world.

I've never really read prose like it. It's so basic and pared back, but still manages to say everything that it needs to say. Imagine the absolute opposite of Charles Dickens' prose, but with some synergy with his story arcs!

This book felt intentionally directionless, which may frustrate some readers.

Things were bad and then they worse, then wayyyyy better, then wayyyyy worse. I loved it. Szalay‘s super sparse writing makes this an easy read despite the heaviness of some of the subject matter #manbooker25

What I mostly liked about this story is that it was very straightforward, even though there are quite a few jumps in the timeline.

István‘s life was a hot mess and I ate this up in less than 48 hours!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#BookerShortlist

I was at two author events this week

The first was The House of Literature where David Szalay was talking about his latest novel, Flesh

It was interesting to hear him talking about the meaning of flesh and how Istvan experiences everything in a philosophical way; the sex, the death.

Started this yesterday and I‘m already at 50%. Have to say I‘m enjoying this more than I thought I would!

#Bookerlonglist2025
And I am done! I think it is the first time I have finished before the winner is announced, although it did help that I allowed myself to listen to the longer novels (anything over 10 hours) on audiobook.
There were some great novels longlisted this year. My favourites are Seascraper, Misinterpretation, Sonia and Sunny and Flesh. And perhaps I am overly influenced by Jaclyn Crupi, but expect Flesh will take the prize.

István isn't unlike George from The Book of George in the way that he relies on women to shape his life for him, although István is much less whiny than George despite experiencing more actual hardships. He's not a bad guy, he just seems to float along, avoiding any real introspection or connection, sublimating his emotions into sexual expression. The novel is kind of depressing. It will be interesting to see if I remember it in 6 months.

After being seduced by an older woman as a teen and their relationship‘s traumatic end, Istvan drifts through life, remaining monosyllabic and unaffected. His emotions don‘t drive him but his physicality seems to. He is passive and largely unknowable and yet I still ended up caring about what happened to him. I kept seeing the wounded kid in his inability to let himself feel. Surprised that this ended up a pick for me. #bookerlonglist

Bailed on both of these books, although I gave Nesting about 75 pages. Flesh did not speak to me in the slightest, and after I read the mediocre reviews on Litsy I quickly gave up. I‘m all for women getting away from abusive husbands, but I‘ve read a lot better books on the subject than Nesting. Off to pick up The Elements so I can read the fourth book in that series.

Woah, what a book. I know this one is going to stay with me. It‘s got a lot to say about masculinity and the negative impacts of this on men, the lack of tenderness. I highly recommend reading it, I‘m going to read it again. I devoured this in 2 sittings. Has anyone else read this? What were your thoughts?

#davidszalay #bookerlonglist

Flesh, by David Szalay (2025 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: The story of a Hungarian bloke from adolescence to middle age.

Review: This Booker longlist title was rough for me, and were I not committed to reading the whole list, it would have been a DNF. Szalay does a great job of introducing his main character; from the first chapter we know exactly who he is. Unfortunately who he is is incredibly passive, with nothing going on in his head or his heart⬇️

I read this compulsive novel quickly and found myself wanting to get back to it. On the surface a plain story of an inarticulate man who rises & falls in London & Hungary. We see his poor choices & the tension builds as we fear the consequences. Propulsive writing with basic dialogue & spare description, but much between the lines. A good book club pick. I didn‘t like his depictions of women & wasn‘t moved by it despite some sad events.

We follow Istvan from his 15 yrs, first in Hungary then later in London with a short stop in Germany. Istvan is a man that just go with the flow and doesn‘t make any decisions in his own life.

The novel also read more like a series of stories focusing on different part of his life, but missing big events like is marriage day and birth of a child.

#Booker2025

#BookerLonglist #3

I really liked Szalay‘s other books but I can‘t make much of this one.
István doesn‘t live his life, it just happens to him. He doesn‘t make choices or decisions. He just says okay to everything that is decided for him. There‘s just one time he does takes action, and it changes the course of his life. Yet it doesn‘t have any real impact on him or on me as a reader. So. Not very impressed.

And can someone explain the title?

Nothing about this book appealed to me: the blurb, the cover art, the manly-man feel. But then it began popping up on “best of the year so far” lists. Finally, after it made the #bookerlonglist I said fine, I‘ll give it a go. Was it low expectations that helped propel this into a surprise hit for me?! I careened through the life of Istvan, after meeting him at 14 engaging in lots of sex, then throughout his career and life. Tragic, mundane, fab.⬇️

9-11 Aug 25 (audiobook)
No 1 #Bookerlonglist2025
My favourite bookseller mentioned some time ago that this is her pick for the Booker prize, and it did not disappoint.
In episodic fragments, we are given glimpses into the life of Ishban. Ishban is inarticulate (‘okay‘ and ‘all right‘ being his catchphrases) and mostly passive, other than two episodes of extreme violence. Raises interesting questions about masculinity ams disconnection.

My 2nd from the #Booker longlist

Goodness, I‘m still thinking about this. Our main character, István, fascinates without saying anything. A book of spare prose, raging underneath. I was sucked in, raced through its 350 spare pages in 4 days. You love István, and he‘s awful, and does awful stuff. But suffers awful stuff too without ever a complaint. Just saying, “ok”. And not much else. I‘ll leaven the masculinity stuff off this mini review. ?

This is #8 from the #bookerlonglist and another one I wasn‘t overly excited to pick up. There‘s a lot of (inappropriate) sex at the start and I really dislike that on audio ?.

As the book continued, though, I grew to like and appreciate the MC, István, even though he remains monosyllabic throughout a life that just seems to happen to him.

Currently, this would make my shortlist, albeit from a longlist where nothing is standing out yet.

Starting today.
#booker #Booker2025

Reading this #bookerlonglist book at an 8u baseball tournament and feeling suppper awkward next to a bunch of kids, my mother in law, husband, and mom. 😳

Flesh follows the slow, greasy unravelling of a man whose chief talent is persistence—not in love, ambition, or self-improvement, but in the daily ritual of dragging his aging carcass through yet another humiliation. He is not a hero. He is not even particularly interesting. He is, in fact, a bore. And yet he is us—or at least the version of us the mirror catches when we‘re not posing.