Absurdistan - Softcover

Gary Shteyngart

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847080065 ISBN 13: 9781847080066

Publisher: Granta Books, 2008

Synopsis

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 U.S. 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.

About this title

Review:

'One of the greatest comic inventions in recent fiction'
-- London Review of Books

'Shteyngart's ludicrous mayhem is highly perceptive and uproarious'
-- Herald

'The novel teeters between different versions of the world. Shteyngart's considerable achievement is to make them plausible and extremely funny' -- Daily Telegraph, Peter Scott

`At once riotously cynical and disarmingly sweet, this rich satire rattles along at a speed that... brings plenty of laughs'
-- Guardian

`Gary Shteyngart is a satirist of alpha quality ... An exuberant, freewheeling narrative is decorated by classy one-liners'
--Sunday Telegraph, Sally Cousins

A riotous satirical story. --Sunday Times Cultures' 100 Books to Love

About the Author:

Gary Shteyngart was recently selected as one of 'Granta's Best
of Young American Novelists 2007'. He has written for the New Yorker, New
York Times, GQ, Esquire and Granta Magazine. His first novel, 'The Russian
Debutante's Handbook' (2003), was named a New York Times Notable Book and
one of the best debuts of the year by the Guardian. It was awarded the
Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award
for Fiction.

Shteyngart was born in Leningrad (St Petersburg) in 1972, and moved to
America aged seven when his family fled the Soviet Union. He lives in New
York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1847080065
• ISBN 13: 9781847080066
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352