The novel Flesh, described by the jury as “contained yet intense,” follows a man from adolescence to old age as he is swept away by events beyond his control.
The story follows István, a 15-year-old living with his mother in a modest apartment complex in Hungary. Newly arrived in the area and with a reserved demeanor, the teenager struggles to adapt to the social rituals of school and becomes isolated.
His only companion is the neighbor, a married woman close in age to his mother, with whom he begins a clandestine relationship. This marks the beginning of a headlong plunge into a chaotic life.
As the years go by, István is carried by the tides of 21st-century money and power, passes through the military, and eventually joins the wealthy elite circle in London. Driven by conflicting impulses of love, intimacy, status, and wealth, he amasses unimaginable fortunes until these desires threaten to destroy him.
“We had never read anything like it. It is, in many respects, a dark book, but a pleasure to read,” stated Irish writer Roddy Doyle, the first Booker winner to chair a judging panel, after explaining that all members read each of the six finalists three times and felt it deserved to win for its uniqueness.
In his acceptance speech, David Szalay acknowledged that both the book and its title were risky, recalling how his publisher said they couldn’t imagine a novel titled Flesh winning the prize.
Nonetheless, the author expressed that he always returns to this “sense of risk,” considering it “very important to take risks,” especially in fiction, which is a literary genre that caters to this nature.
“This was not an easy book to write. I started it after abandoning another and felt significant pressure to write a good book because abandoning one after already leaving another would have been emotionally taxing for me.”
Although Flesh is not published in Portugal, David Szalay has released All That Man Is (2018) and Turbulence (2019), both through Elsinore.
The awarding of the Booker to Flesh left behind the other five finalists: Americans Susan Choi, with Flashlight, Katie Kitamura, with Audition, Ben Markovits, with The Rest of Our Lives, Indian Kiran Desai, with The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, and Briton Andrew Miller, with The Land in Winter.
None of these books have an edition in Portugal, although all the authors, except for Susan Choi and Ben Markovits, have translated works published in the country.
The judging panel for this edition of the Booker Prize includes Nigerian writer Ayobami Adebayo, American actress, producer, and publisher Sarah Jessica Parker, British writer Chris Power, American author Kiley Reid, in addition to Roddy Doyle.
The Booker Prize includes a prize money of 50,000 pounds (57,000 euros) and the likely exponential increase in the book’s sales volume.
Last year’s Booker winner was Orbital, by British author Samantha Harvey.
