Flesh : a novel / David Szalay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Szalay, David, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hungary--Fiction.

Hungary.

London (England)--Fiction.

London (England).

Young men--Fiction.

Young men.

Older women--Fiction.

Older women.

Interpersonal relations--Fiction.

Interpersonal relations.

Male immigrants--Great Britain--Fiction.

Male immigrants.

Adultery--Fiction.

Adultery.

Psychic trauma--Fiction.

Psychic trauma.

Men--Fiction.

Men.

Psychological fiction, Canadian.

Genre:

Novels.

Physical Description:

353 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First Scribner hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Scribner, 2025.

Summary:

"Teenaged István lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. Shy and new in town, he is a stranger to the social rituals practiced by his classmates and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbor--a married woman close to his mother's age, whom he begrudgingly helps with errands--as his only companion. But as these periodical encounters shift into a clandestine relationship that István himself can barely understand, his life soon spirals out of control, ending in a violent accident that leaves a man dead. What follows is a rocky trajectory that sees István emigrate from Hungary to London, where he moves from job to job before finding steady work as a driver for London's billionaire class. At each juncture, his life is affected by the goodwill or self-interest of strangers. Through it all, István is a calm, detached observer of his own life, and through his eyes we experience a tragic twist on an immigrant "success story," brightened by moments of sensitivity, softness, and Szalay's keen observation"-- Provided by publisher.

From Booker Prize-shortlisted author David Szalay, comes a propulsive, hypnotic novel about a man who is unravelled by a series of events beyond his grasp. Fifteen-year-old Istvan lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. New to the town and shy, he is unfamiliar with the social rituals at school and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbour -- a married woman close to his mother's age -- as his only companion. These encounters shift into a clandestine relationship that Istvan himself can barely understand, and his life soon spirals out of control. As the years pass, he is carried gradually upwards on the currents of the twenty-first century's tides of money and power, moving from the army to the company of London's super-rich, with his own competing impulses for love, intimacy, status and wealth winning him unimaginable riches, until they threaten to undo him completely. Spare and penetrating, Flesh is the finest novel yet by a master of realism, asking profound questions about what drives a life: what makes it worth living, and what breaks it.

Notes:

"Originally published in Great Britain in 2025 by Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Vintage Publishing, a division of Penguin Random House UK."--Title page verso.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Schneidman Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9781982122799

198212279X

OCLC:

1511812227