Better left unsaid

István is a man buffeted by forces beyond his control who confronts mortality in a thrilling exploration of what it means to be alive

Keiran Goddard

Samuel Butler’s posthumous 1903 novel The Way of All Flesh carried with it an implied subtitle. In the Book of Kings, from which Butler drew his title, the dying David tells his son Solomon, “take thou courage and shew thyself a man”. Butler’s inference was clear enough: here is a book about what it means to live, what it means to die, and what might be a worthwhile way to fill the time in between. Flesh, the sixth book from Booker-shortlisted David Szalay, has more than just a biblical allusion in common with Butler’s masterpiece. Thrillingly, in an age when we arguably have weaker stomachs for such things, it also shares its bold ontological and artistic ambitions. In Flesh, Szalay has written a novel about the Big Question: about the…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 14 March 2025

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