David Szalay wins Booker Prize for tortured tale of masculinity

[LONDON] British-Hungarian writer David Szalay won the Booker Prize on Monday (Nov 10) for his novel Flesh, a tortured story of a Hungarian emigre who makes and loses a fortune.

“A meditation on class, power, intimacy, migration and masculinity, Flesh is a compelling portrait of one man, and the formative experiences that can reverberate across a lifetime,” organisers of the award ceremony in London said in a statement.

Szalay beat five other shortlisted authors, including Indian novelist Kiran Desai, who won in 2006, and Britain’s Andrew Miller, to claim the £50,000 (S$85,742) award at a ceremony in London.

Szalay had previously been shortlisted for the prestigious literary honour in 2016 for his last work, All That Man Is.

His sixth novel, Flesh is another unflattering exploration of masculinity, using sparse prose to track the Hungarian protagonist from military service in his home country to working for the ultra-wealthy in London.

His tormented life includes affairs with older women and fighting in Iraq.

The five judges considered 135 books to crown one as the best work of long-form fiction written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between Oct 1, 2024 and Sep 30, 2025.

Among the six shortlisted works, one kept dominating the conversation, according to chair of the judges Roddy Doyle.

He called Flesh a “singular” and “extraordinary” novel.

“We had never read anything quite like it. It is, in many ways, a dark book, but it is a joy to read,” said Doyle, a writer and winner of the 1993 Booker Prize.

“I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well. It’s as if the author… is inviting the reader to fill the space, to observe – almost to create – the character with him.”

The judging panel also included Sex and the City actor Sarah Jessica Parker alongside authors Ayobami Adebayo and Kiley Reid, as well as critic and writer Chris Power.

In an interview with the Booker Prize organisation after his novel was longlisted, Szalay said he knew he wanted to write a book that began with Hungary, ended with England and that explored “the cultural and economic divides that characterise” contemporary Europe.

“Writing about a Hungarian immigrant at the time when Hungary joined the EU seemed like an obvious way to go,” he said.

Szalay triumphed over favourites Desai and Miller.

Desai was shortlisted for The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, a nearly 700-page novel and her first work since winning the Booker in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss.

Miller, who had also previously been shortlisted for the award, was considered for The Land In Winter.

The other shortlisted novels this year were Susan Choi’s Flashlight, Katie Kitamura’s Audition, and Ben Markovits’ The Rest of Our Lives.

Last year’s prize was won by British writer Samantha Harvey for her short novel, Orbital, following six astronauts as they contemplate Earth from the International Space Station.

Harvey presented this year’s Booker Prize to Szalay.

Born in Montreal, Canada, Szalay grew up in London and now lives in Vienna. He is the author of six works of fiction. AFP, REUTERS