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    WOD Programmer

    WOD Programmer

    Sports and Health & Fitness

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    WOD Programmer was designed by a Former Division One Decathlete, Army Sapper/Paratrooper, fitness...

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ClareR (6230 KP) rated Flesh in Books

Apr 7, 2026  
Flesh
Flesh
David Szalay | 2025 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I know Flesh has had a lot of 3* reviews, but I’m going to say how much I enjoyed it. It seemed to me to be the story of a quiet man who always kept himself separate from those around him. I believe that comes from the trauma he experiences at the start of the book: as a teenager he’s groomed and sexually abused by an older woman. That’s my takeaway from this as the mother of sons and working in education for over 20 years, 8 of which were with teenagers.

After this, he seems out of control of his life, and he drifts from one set of circumstances to another, one job to another (including the army) and one sexual encounter to another. He’s a man of few words, which in Istvan’s words, is “OK” by me. Sentences are short, both Istvan’s speech and the narrative in between, and I felt this made the book highly readable. I stormed through this book.

At its heart, it’s a story about the changing role of men, both in fatherhood and life generally. It gives the impression that he’s being carried along in his life, never quite sure what’s expected of him (at least that’s what I thought).

I can see this is a very ‘marmite’ book - you’ll either love it or hate it. I think it deserved its Booker Prize win 🤷🏼‍♀️