FLESH

Narrator Daniel Weyman portrays István, an awkward teenager who, as the novel opens, lives in an apartment complex in Hungary. Tragically, the earnest, needy teen falls in love with an older woman, and when he declares his love and confronts her husband, István accidentally kills him. Institutionalization follows--from which he emerges withdrawn and almost incapable of communicating. Weyman affects a tone of world-weariness as István signs up for the army and serves in the Iraq War. Not surprisingly, PTSD drives him deeper into despair. Weyman expresses István's trauma with long pauses, repeated questions, and a mind-numbing overuse of words and phrases like "yeah," "I don't know," and, mostly commonly, "okay." While Weyman deftly captures the lost character, ultimately István wears thin on the listener. R.O. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2025]