- Published: 01/04/2010
- ISBN: 9781847082985
- Granta Books
- 352 pages
Absurdistan
Gary Shteyngart
Meet Misha Vainberg, aka Snack Daddy, a 325-pound disaster of a human being, son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia and proud holder of a degree in multicultural studies from Accidental College, USA. Misha is an American impounded in a Russian’s body and the only place he feels at home is New York; he just wants to live in the South Bronx with his Latina girlfriend, but after his gangster father murders an Oklahoma businessman in Russia, all hopes of a US visa are lost. Salvation lies in the tiny oil-rich nation of Absurdistan (a fictional former Soviet republic), 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.
£7.99
A satire that strikes out in all directions ... astonishingly funny and exquisitely written
Tibor Fischer, Sunday Telegraph
Gary Shteyngart's brilliant, scathing new novel ... is a satire, an irrepressible, fiery and hilarious one, but it's also surprisingly sensuous. Most satires exist in the brain and the gall. Absurdistan adds a stomach and a libido. You will feel fondled by the time you finish but you'll also feel well-fed
Patrick Ness, Guardian
It's the best American comic novel since The Confederacy of Dunces
Simon Schama
From the Same Author
Super Sad True Love Story
Gary Shteyngart
In a very near future, a functionally illiterate America is about to collapse. But don’t tell that to poor Lenny Abramov, proud author of what may well be the world’s last diary. Despite his job at an outfit called ‘Post-Human Services’, which attempts to provide immortality for its super-rich clientele, death is clearly stalking this cholesterol-rich morsel of a man. And why shouldn’t it? Lenny’s from a different century. He TOTALLY loves books (or ‘printed, bound media artifacts’ as they’re now known), even though most of his peers find them smelly and annoying. But even more than books, Lenny loves Eunice Park, an impossibly cute and impossibly cruel twenty-four-year-old Korean-American woman who just graduated from Elderbird College with a major in ‘Images’ and a minor in ‘Assertiveness’. When riots break out in New York’s Central Park, the city’s streets are lined with National Guard tanks and patient Chinese creditors look ready to foreclose on the whole mess, Lenny vows to convince his fickle new love that in a time without standards or stability, there is still value in being a real human being.
Gary Shteyngart on Granta.com
In Conversation | The Online Edition
Gary Shteyngart | Interview
Gary Shteyngart & Emily Greenhouse
‘I can’t even afford to have thoughts on London, much less live or visit there.’
Essays & Memoir | The Online Edition
Gary Shteyngart | Portrait of My Father
Gary Shteyngart
‘I am fourteen years old and this is the only time I have ever successfully driven a car in my entire life.’
Essays & Memoir
|
The Online Edition
Over There
Various Contributors
Americans, speaking of foreign lands, often say, 'It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.'
