Absurdistan: A Novel | 
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Product Description
“Absurdistan is not just a hilarious novel, but a record of a particular peak in the history of human folly. No one is more capable of dealing with the transition from the hell of socialism to the hell of capitalism in Eastern Europe than Shteyngart, the great-great grandson of one Nikolai Gogol and the funniest foreigner alive.”
–Aleksandar Hemon
From the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook comes the uproarious and poignant story of one very fat man and one very small country
Meet Misha Vainberg, aka Snack Daddy, a 325-pound disaster of a human being, son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia, proud holder of a degree in multicultural studies from Accidental College, USA (don’t even ask), and patriot of no country save the great City of New York. Poor Misha just wants to live in the South Bronx with his hot Latina girlfriend, but after his gangster father murders an Oklahoma businessman in Russia, all hopes of a U.S. visa are lost.
Salvation lies in the tiny, oil-rich nation of Absurdistan, where a crooked consular officer will sell Misha a Belgian passport. But after a civil war breaks out between two competing ethnic groups and a local warlord installs hapless Misha as minister of multicultural affairs, our hero soon finds himself covered in oil, fighting for his life, falling in love, and trying to figure out if a normal life is still possible in the twenty-first century.
With the enormous success of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Gary Shteyngart established himself as a central figure in today’s literary world—“one of the most talented and entertaining writers of his generation,” according to The New York Observer. In Absurdistan, he delivers an even funnier and wiser literary performance. Misha Vainberg is a hero for the new century, a glimmer of humanity in a world of dashed hopes.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews:
• Supersized 22 June, 2008
The book is not without merit, and as pulp fiction goes is fairly well written. The characters are believable, in their cartoonish way, and the plot is thick with action.
The inevitable comparison with "Confederacy of Dunces" shows how different these books are. Where Toole uses a hot dog cart, Shteyngart calls on Haliburton, graphic sex, mass murder and heavy stereotyping. The beauty of Toole's world is Ignatius's hilarious aplomb, his inability of being anyone but himself. He and the main characters make up their world out of their colorful disposition.
"Absurdistan", on the other hand, is constructed of labels ("Jew", "Haliburton" or "New York" are expected to impress by their very appearance on the page). The book has its moments of elegance, but overall relies on labels to bedazzle. The supersized Misha lives in the world of supersized words, supersized images and supersized events, all of which left me feeling supersized.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3U41P0AV1WST4
• Prophetic! 09 August, 2008
Today (8/8/08) this book became prophetic. An unknown and unpronounceable town in Georgia (the one that used to be an SSR) is at war with the Russians. A port is being destroyed. It can't be real. Every word of the CNN summary sounds like it was written for "Absurdistan." Here are a few (begin quote):
"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," Lyudmila Ostayeva, a resident of the South Ossetia capital, Tskhinvali, told The Associated Press on Friday.
"It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged," she said after fleeing to a village near the Russian border, AP reported.
...
Hundreds of people, possibly thousands, are fleeing South Ossetia to the Russian region of North Ossetia-Alania, the United Nations reported Friday, citing Russian officials.
About 150 Russian armored vehicles have entered South Ossetia, Saakashvili said, and Georgian forces had shot down two Russian aircraft.
---End Quote
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3TRG4A68K3YF1
• Not A Book To Leave Around For Your Teenage Sons To Read 24 June, 2008
Shteyngart is a comic virtuoso, and his distance from eastern and western verities makes him uniquely capable of sending up both.
While impressive, the book falls short of his first novel-not least because of its dismisssive attitude toward women. If he was trying to emulate (or perhaps satirize?) the obsessive fascination with male sexual pleasure, he succeeded only in making long swaths of his novel nearly pornographic. The effect is titillating, but empty and distracting.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AT8K5U1O69ISG
• Not Even Clever. 23 June, 2008
A sophomoric attempt to create a humorous reflection of world events and situations. It has sloppy development, poor pacing and the characters are paper dolls. I hope this is the author's first book, because he has nowhere to go but up. Sorry for the rough critique, but I hope the author takes it as a challenge to improve his style and skills.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3SUQF5YPTZNH4
• Hysterical Novel (conservatives Beware!) 23 June, 2008
After reading The Russian Debutante's Handbook, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I had high hopes for Gary Shteyngart's latest novel Absurdistan. I am happy to report that this novel definitely exceeded my very high expectations.
Misha Vainberg is a privileged, obese, pseudo-intellectual who is desperately seeking admittance back into the United States. Unfortunately for him, his father has killed an American in Russia, greatly angering the US State Department, who refuses to allow him entry. Misha had attended college in the US and wants to return to make a life with his underprivileged, undereducated girlfriend. In order to bypass his immigration issues Misha heads to Absurdistan to meet with a man who can get him Belgian citizenship, which will hopefully allow him to go back to the states. Unfortunately, civil war breaks out in Absurdistan, resulting in a longer than anticipated stay.
This novel is hysterical; books don't generally make me laugh out loud, but this one did. The humor comes from the absurdity (Absurdistan... get it?) of the situations Misha gets himself into, and the people he surrounds himself with. Don't be mistaken, there is an intellectual aspect of the novel; throughout the novel there is an underlying commentary on class, oil's role in the global economy, and national tension.
Conservatives beware; there's a great deal of sex (often graphic), violence and Republican-bashing.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2VUNCELWAV29X
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