Reviews

All That Man Is by David Szalay

johndiconsiglio's review against another edition

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3.0

Nine stories of nine men at nine different stages in life, from arrogant teenager to regretful old man. They’re each journeying through Europe & each reveal flaws & pettiness, usually with women. The title’s meant to be ironic. If this is all that man is, well, then we don’t amount to very much. Can be sparsely sad & insightful. Can also be too self-aware for its own good. (Note to author: Avoid sentences that read “Life.”) A young Frenchman’s tryst with an obese mother & daughter feels like an ugly joke.

winter94's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

reads_ellen's review against another edition

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4.0

A long book but doesn’t feel it. Easy to read- there are 9 (largely independent of each other) characters with their own respective sections, and common threads running throughout.

The blurb states that the book explores what manhood is in the 21st century, but it’s contents allude to the nuances experienced by people generally.

The richest aspect of the book is that the first character is the youngest and each subsequent character is at a slightly further stage in their life. There is a beautiful balance between continuity and difference.

tenderdispatches's review against another edition

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3.0

Good, but missing something essential. Part nine is startlingly beautiful, though.

jdintr's review against another edition

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3.0

Spotting this book in my library, as I did the week before my 46th birthday, I couldn't help but pick up this book.

Now I have picked up a few opinions on 'all that man is' in my own time on the planet, and I was intrigued to learn Szalay's take, but I was dismayed to find his view of manhood quite different from mine.

Szalay's men are strivers, making round after round on the carnival merry-go-round, reaching for the brass ring. The younger men in his book reach for sex, and the focus turns to money in middle age, apparently (where I find myself). Only the last man wonders--too late--about eternity.

Szalay's tales range across Europe, from England to Denmark to Prague to Croatia, which makes me wonder if this book isn't as much about Europe's impotence than man's. Frustratingly, the women in the book seem one-dimensional: conquests, clueless or distant wives, and the children seem often forgotten.

Ask me 'all that a man is,' and my response won't be good enough for the Booker Longlist, but I feel that a man's life is defined by the women he loves--his mother, his bride, and his daughter. That's what I take pride in, and perhaps that's why Szalay's incomplete look at manhood left me feeling so empty.

crummeyforthewin's review against another edition

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2.0

According to David Szalay, all that man is is not very much.

rocketiza's review against another edition

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2.0

Most of the stories were of super generic characters experiencing major but super generic life events that bored me too much to even finish a short story about them. The writing wasn't special enough at all to keep me going and I often stopped partway through. The few stories that I did like were of unique situations, but they were too far and few between.

andyirwin89's review against another edition

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5.0

‘All that man is’ has found a pretty special place in my heart. Each short story is brimming with personality and yet the writing is so measured and poised.

It’s a series of stories about the existences of men, some pretty awful men and some pretty sad and lonely men. It’s written in a way that I connect with - snapshots in time, bitesize stories about the ways we exist, the things we long for or that we used to have.

Each story stands up in its own right, I could happily have read more about the protagonist in each, and that is the greatest achievement of this collection for me.

mubeenirfan's review against another edition

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5.0

I had been waiting to get my hands on this book for some time. It was a Manbooker nominee and had stories around expat/travel theme and thus was automatically added to my to read list.
These are nine stories in total. All have men in different ages as the main characters. There is a teenager, a college drop out, middle aged men, successful in the past but now suicidal mature man and a slowly dying of old age man. All the stories have one female character whom these men are hating, impressing, divorcing, seducing, in love with, having affairs with etc. The stories are geographically scattered throughout Europe (this could be due to the reason that the writer has lived in UK, Belgium, Canada and Hungary) including Prague, Greek Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, London, Italy, Croatia, Adriatic sea and more.

All the stories are very easy to read and though they are not connected but we can accurately identify the central premise of each story and relate it to our own life.

Recommended read with 4.5 stars.

saphieg's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25