All That Man Is - David Szalay

In "All That Man Is" we follow the interconnected stories of nine men at different stages of their lives. Szalay offers a raw and unflinching portrayal of contemporary male identity, exploring themes of alienation, ambition, and existential angst. Each character confronts their own vulnerabilities and desires, navigating the complexities of love, ambition, and mortality. Szalay's prose is incisive and haunting, capturing the essence of the human condition with remarkable clarity. As the narratives unfold, a collective portrait emerges, revealing the universal struggles and contradictions that define what it means to be a man in the twenty-first century.

Nine men. Each of them at a different stage of life, each of them away from home, and each of them striving – in the suburbs of Prague, beside a Belgian motorway, in a cheap Cypriot hotel – to understand just what it means to be alive, here and now.

Tracing an arc from the spring of youth to the winter of old age, All That Man Is brings these separate lives together to show us men as they are – ludicrous and inarticulate, shocking and despicable; vital, pitiable, hilarious, and full of heartfelt longing. And as the years chase them down, the stakes become bewilderingly high in this piercing portrayal of 21st-century manhood.

Shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize;
Winner of the 2016 Gordon Burn Prize

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