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All That Man Is by David Szalay (view source)
Revision as of 10:48, 23 February 2018
, 10:48, 23 February 2018no edit summary
{{infobox infobox1
|title=All That Man Is
|author=David Szalay
|website=
|video=
|amazonukcover=0099593696|aznuk=0099593696|aznus=<amazonuk>0099593696</amazonuk>}}
Two teenage boys on an Inter Rail trip around Europe find themselves staying with a frustrated housewife on the outskirts of Prague, a driftless young Frenchman discovers sexual fulfilment on a package holiday in Cyprus, a lovestruck Hungarian minder is embroiled in a prostitution racket at an upmarket London hotel, a Belgian academic is forced to confront his egotism when his partner becomes pregnant, a Danish tabloid journalist exposes a high-ranking politician's love affair, a property developer inspects a new project in the French alps, a Scot living in Croatia flounders in love and business, a Russian millionaire confronts divorce and the loss of an expensive lawsuit, an elderly English politician survives a road accident in Italy.
Szalay is an acute noticer and there is a filmic and strongly sensory quality to the prose: rain, mist, clouds, road surfaces, buildings, cigarettes, drinks, smells, food – all add to a sense of location which is forensically accurate. In terms of place and character this is an interestingly 'European' book. Is it coincidence that it should have been published during the year of Brexit?
For further reading, although it's a completely different kind of book, those who enjoyed the travel in we can recommend more from Szalay (Stansted Airport and Ryanair are regularly named) may also like : [[Small World The Innocent by David LodgeSzalay|The Innocents]]. and [[The Corrections Spring by Jonathan FranzenDavid Szalay|Spring]] (to whom David Szalay bears a certain physical resemblance) also addresses the theme of a man in crisis.
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