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3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
Absurd for sure but I liked it. The cultural/ social references were great and I loved the self deprecating humor and sexuality. At times the death and dismemberment was a little too cold, but I think it was intentional... Commentary?
Loved it. It's clever, funny, well written and well plotted.
It's not the details of this particular story that I enjoyed so much. In fact, it was pretty offensive. My thoughts frequently return to this story and I believe Shteyngart captured the absurdity of what is going on in the present geopolitical landscape. It is his commentary on the present day military-industrial complex. Reality is quite vulgar and at least as offensive.
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Meh. It was an ok story, but nothing that kept me glued to the book.
2.5 stars, but getting a bump on account of inventiveness in its language and descriptions. Essentially, this book is held out as satire, but what was it satirizing exactly? A wealthy boorish sex-obsessed young Russian winds up in a fictitious nation sort of modelled on Azerbaijan but definitely not Azerbaijan. So in its depictions of fictitious people, culture, faith, landscape and politics, when there's no actual comparator, how is that satire? It's more of an absurdist romp, a farce. And for that it needed to be funnier. I mean, a Holocaust museum designed to resemble broken matzoh is about as funny as it got for me. The main character, Misha Vainberg, is an anti-hero because he's unlikeable. Which is a problem. Unlike Humbert Humbert, there's no redeeming wit or razor sharp insight, just the opposite: Misha bumbles along and often mistreats others or remains oblivious to misfortune (yet occassionally he seems blessed by moments of clarity that suggest a real brain chugs inside that doltish head). In other words, it's hard to care about him, let alone feel affinity, and there's precious little other than an occasional laugh to keep me involved. In short, it grew tiresome.
a decent book, not top drawer fiction, but a good bit of humor sprinkled on some post-gorbachev russia. gets off to a good start, some lulls in the middle, an attempt at wrapping it all up in a frenzy that falls a bit short. worth reading if you have an interest in all things russian and enjoy easy-to-read fiction. i think shteyngart has a knack for humor but fails when he tries to address more serious themes.
I picked this one up because of it's reputation as a very funny novel. So I am prepared to accept that the issue may be at my end, but I found it tiresome rather than hilarious. I appreciate that this is satire, but it is a little too heavy handed for my taste, and the loathsome characters really do make the experience unpleasant.
This is compounded by a some rather uneven pacing, with a hard slog at the beginning, downhill slope in the middle, and all over the shop by the end. Moreover, the constant repetitions of grotesque and gauche scenes (however deliberate) just grates by the end.
Give it a miss.
This is compounded by a some rather uneven pacing, with a hard slog at the beginning, downhill slope in the middle, and all over the shop by the end. Moreover, the constant repetitions of grotesque and gauche scenes (however deliberate) just grates by the end.
Give it a miss.
A much more ambitious book than Debutante's Handbook, here Shteyngart tries to tie together the break-up of the Soviet Union, the oil economies along the Black Sea and Halliburton, ethnic strife, Jewish identity, weight issues and 9/11. It felt a little overloaded, though still pretty awesome.
It's not as funny, or not funny in the same soft-headed way as the earlier novel, either. I kept mistaking the narrator for the kind of schlub at the center of the other book, but this wasn't having any of it-- despite his massive size, the narrator here isn't a figure of fun, at least not to the narrator.
There are lots of wild tonal shifts here, many of which are really interesting and surprising. But there are also drug and dream sequences that went right past me-- a satire, and there are definitely strong elements of satire here, needs, I think, to be crisper and more lucid than some parts of this are-- the whole situation in Absurdistan seemed at times out of Shteyngart's control, and I think that's a problem. At least it was for me, when I couldn't understand what he was trying to say about the political scene and the military escalation.
Also, I found the ending a little abrupt, more "I give up" than "I've worked it out and this narrative is finished." But maybe that's me-- it's still a really good read and I certainly applaud the effort, and will read more by Shteyngart. This is not what I expected, exactly, but it's probably better for that.
It's not as funny, or not funny in the same soft-headed way as the earlier novel, either. I kept mistaking the narrator for the kind of schlub at the center of the other book, but this wasn't having any of it-- despite his massive size, the narrator here isn't a figure of fun, at least not to the narrator.
There are lots of wild tonal shifts here, many of which are really interesting and surprising. But there are also drug and dream sequences that went right past me-- a satire, and there are definitely strong elements of satire here, needs, I think, to be crisper and more lucid than some parts of this are-- the whole situation in Absurdistan seemed at times out of Shteyngart's control, and I think that's a problem. At least it was for me, when I couldn't understand what he was trying to say about the political scene and the military escalation.
Also, I found the ending a little abrupt, more "I give up" than "I've worked it out and this narrative is finished." But maybe that's me-- it's still a really good read and I certainly applaud the effort, and will read more by Shteyngart. This is not what I expected, exactly, but it's probably better for that.