New Delhi, Nov. 11 -- David Szalay's Flesh, which won the Booker Prize 2025 on Monday, was the first of the six titles I had picked up from the shortlist to read this year. It immediately drew me in-not because it has a singularly gripping plot, but rather, for the exact opposite reason. Flesh is what one may call an anti-novel. It ostensibly plays by the rules of narrative fiction but, in fact, merely puts flesh and bones over a mysterious skeleton. Szalay cultivates a deliberately styleless style with no signposts to lead the reader to this framework or decode the message it hides.

Istvan, the protagonist of Flesh, is a character without any exceptional qualities-as plain as they come. He is a misfit in Hungary, where he grows up. Late...