Flesh by David Szalay

 

There’s something about capitalism in the 21st century that can gnaw at your very soul and leave it chewed up to the core. István feels this first-hand as he gets tossed around, simply drifting in and out of events that take him from his native Hungary to the rest of Europe and back. Seduced by a 40-something neighbor as a teenager, István soon learns to peddle his one currency, his good looks to move up the ladder. The view from the top is precarious however, and dependent on the good graces of people beyond his control. Mildly engaging social satire.

Flashlight by Susan Choi

 When Louisa was just 10, her Japanese-Korean father drowned off a beach in Japan. Or so she remembers. Dad, Serk, an American immigrant with a fractured family had been cobbling a life with Anne, a WASP-y curious yet distant woman, with family challenges of her own. When it all splinters, Louisa’s relationship with her mother grows icier. But the landscape recasts when new information about the family’s past surfaces from a most unexpected place. In brilliant and nuanced writing, Choi delivers a masterpiece. She plays with the title “flashlight,” showing how limited brightness can create its own unknown dark shadows.