David Szalay’s Booker Prize-winning novel, featuring a taciturn, often violent protagonist, has ignited discussion on toxic male behaviour, literary representation and real-world concerns about men in 2025, per theguardian.com.
In the immediate aftermath of the novel winning the Booker Prize, one striking detail about the book’s protagonist, István, stood out: his repeated, sparse use of the word “OK.”
The approximately 500 times the British-Hungarian author has István grunt out the monosyllabic response is central to the novel’s sparse prose, which gives the reader few insights into the inner workings of a man whose fortunes rise and fall.
Yet, however inarticulate István may be, the success of a story centred on a working-class man from eastern Europe winning one of the world’s biggest literary prizes has undeniably ignited a broader debate about the state of masculinity in contemporary literature.
Szalay himself has spoken about the “risky” nature of the novel, not only because of its style but because István exhibits explicitly toxic male behaviour. “There’s no longer that sense that boys will be boys,” Szalay said after his win. “So I expect the main character in Flesh to draw quite a bit of disapproval.”
István’s path, from a young offender facility to the army, and later working security at a strip club before becoming a driver and guard, follows traditionally male career routes. Booker judge and novelist Chris Power observed, “These aren’t exclusively male paths, but they are predominantly male or traditionally male.”
Earlier this year, some commentators had questioned whether male novelists and male themes were terminally out of fashion. This sentiment was fuelled by the launch of Conduit Books in April, a new imprint dedicated to publishing literary fiction and memoirs by men, amid a “perception that the male voice is problematic,” according to its founder, Jude Cook. Cook attributed the shifting publishing landscape to a reaction against the “prevailing toxic male-dominated literary scene of the 80s, 90s and 00s.”
The Booker longlist, which featured six men and seven women, alongside Szalay’s eventual success, offered a firm riposte to the idea that the male voice is being sidelined.
However, Flesh’s victory did more than simply buck an apparent literary trend; it plugged directly into a live, wider cultural debate about what it means to be a man in 2025.
Much of the coverage following the win has placed the novel in the wider context of a “crisis of masculinity.” This cultural phenomenon is characterised by the rise of figures like influencer Andrew Tate and the intense public discussion opened up by dramas such as Netflix’s incel-themed series, Adolescence.
“The idea of a crisis of masculinity in the wider culture with say, suicide rates or younger kids turning to the Andrew Tates of the world, it’s almost colliding with literature,” said Chris Power.
Critic and author Leo Robson suggested that the current climate might actually make such literature easier to champion. “Maybe it’s easier in an age where there’s been quite a healthy debate about masculinity and male behaviour to champion someone like David Szalay writing about men in like a sceptical inquiring spirit.”
•Featured image: David Szalay after winning the Booker Prize 2025/Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
