I just finished Flesh by David Szalay and idk how to feel about it? The beginning was a bit…disturbing. I dont like to read about kids being abused like that and put the book down for a week and read other stuff, but it just sat in the back of my head. I fully intended to DNF it but it just sat there nagging at me. And the dialogue was so annoying. Example:
"What did you do today?"
"What did I do today?"
"Yes, what did you do today?"
"Where did you go to school?"
"Where did I go to School?"
Its so repetitive. Or it would be one word answers like "Okay". A lot of "okays".
I do think it was an interesting way to write because it left the reader open to interpreting how things were said and, but it also left me feeling not very emotionally attached. Was that the point though? Since the MC seemed to also be emotionally unattached, forcing readers to "feel" how he felt throughout life?
So, genius book or terrible book? Im really not sure. I usually like to rate my books on goodreads after I read them but I genuinely do not know how I feel about this one.
by mistookan
1 Comment
I just finished it last night. Didn’t love it but didn’t hate it either. I do think the Istvan character will stay with me for some time. You don’t really get any insight on his inner feelings throughout his ups and downs, but I think maybe that’s the point. He’s just disconnected from any kind of introspection.