Not OK? Booker winner Flesh ignites debate about state of masculinity

In the immediate aftermath of David Szalay’s book Flesh winning the Booker prize, one feature of the novel stood out: how often the protagonist utters the word “OK”.

The 500 times István grunts out the response is part of a sparse prose style through which the British-Hungarian Szalay gives the reader few insights into the inner workings of a man whose fortunes rise and fall.

But however inarticulate István is, the fact a story about a working-class man from eastern Europe won one of the biggest literary prizes in the world has started a debate about masculinity in literature in 2025.