Flesh

The language in Flesh has widely been described as ‘spare’ and the main character, István, as monosyllabic and emotionally detached. What did you think of David Szalay’s pared-back characters and writing style? Was István a character you felt you could connect with?

A middle-aged woman who lives across the hall grooms 15-year-old István at the beginning of the novel. What did you make of the affair between teenaged István and his neighbour? What impact do you think it has on the rest of his life, especially his relationships with women?

In the first 100 pages of the book, young István quietly experiences a series of traumas: sexual abuse, imprisonment, war. The first is underplayed and the second and third are recounted in little or no detail. In an interview with the Guardian, David Szalay said he enjoys books ‘where what happens in the gaps is as important as the chapters themselves. The way that the reader has to do their own imaginative work’. What did you think of the ‘gaps’ in Flesh that Szalay leaves the reader to fill in?

Szalay has said he ‘wanted to write about life as a physical experience, about what it’s like to be a living body in the world’, while the Booker Prize 2025 judges commented that Flesh is ‘a novel about a man who is remarkably detached from his body and desires’. What did you think of both the physicality and the detachment on display in Flesh?

István’s encounter with a former classmate who has become a doctor seems to act as a kind of catalyst. István himself isn’t forthcoming, but how do you think he feels at this point and why does it spur a change?

The action relocates to London, where István works as a doorman before becoming a driver for a rich family. His fortunes change dramatically when he starts an affair with his employer’s wife, Helen. What did you make of István and Helen’s relationship and how it develops? How significant is the power and wealth gap between them?

The descriptions of sex in Flesh are often both explicit and banal. In an interview with the Telegraph, David Szalay said: ‘I always want to depict sex as honestly as I can’. What did you think of the sex scenes in the book?

In the same interview, Szalay said ‘I’m just reporting what I see in the world, which tends to include men who lack a clear sense of what they should be doing and why.’ What do you think Szalay’s male characters reveal about modern masculinity?

After marrying Helen, István becomes stepfather to Thomas and, later, father to Jacob. What did you make of his relationships with these two boys? Did they reveal anything new about István’s character? Do you think István was a good dad?

Flesh is written in the third person throughout, mostly but not exclusively from István’s point of view. There are a few instances when the action is described from Helen or Thomas’s perspectives. How did you find those shifts of viewpoint? Were they illuminating, confusing, or something else?

We know little about István’s mother – she is emotionally detached, like her son – but she quietly directs him in important ways: help the neighbour, get a job, see a therapist. She visits István in England at one point, highlighting the vulnerability of his status there: ‘You need to do something,’ she says. ‘I know,’ he says. What are your reflections on the relationship between István and his mother? Thinking about the final pages of the novel, did you enjoy how the plot circled towards its ending?