David Szalay Reads from His Novel, Flesh, Exploring a Tour of Duty in Iraq

This month on the Service95 Book Club podcast, Dua is joined by award-winning author David Szalay to discuss his quietly powerful novel Flesh – selected as Dua’s Monthly Read for October. Told through a series of spare, intimate portraits, the novel captures moments of human vulnerability with a precision that feels deeply real. 

In a Service95 exclusive, David reads from a chapter set in Iraq, where the protagonist István and his fellow soldiers find themselves beside a hotel pool, suspended in the strange stillness of their return from war. There is no drama, no action – just silence, heat, and waiting. 

“The idea of the soldiers having this very boring journey back from Iraq at the end of their tour of duty there… the boring texture of returning… that seemed to me to unlock the strong flavour of reality,” David tells Dua in their conversation, recorded live at the New York Public Library, which is also available as a podcast here. 

It’s a powerful moment in Flesh, and a testament to the realism that threads through the entire novel. 
 

Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Barnes & Noble  

Get in touch: 

📩 Email us – books@service95.com 

📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for updates 

📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at www.service95.com 

And don’t forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices