Gary Shteyngart

a novel

Super sad true love story

"It's March 2020 and a calamity is unfolding. A group of friends and friends-of-friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next few months new bonds of friendship and love will take hold, while old betrayals will emerge among this unlikely cast of characters, each richly drawn and achingly human: a Russian-born novelist; his Russian-born psychiatrist wife; their precocious child obsessed with K-pop; a struggling Indian American writer; a wildly successful Korean American app developer; a global dandy with three passports; a young flame-thrower of an essayist, originally from the Carolinas; and a movie star, The Actor, whose arrival upsets the equilibrium of this chosen family"--

A Novel

Our Country Friends

The award-winning author of Super Sad True Story traces his uproarious experiences as a young bullied Jewish-Russian immigrant in Queens, his haphazard college pursuits and his initial forays into a literary career.

A Memoir

Little Failure

Hoping to get out of Russia and return to his adopted home in the U.S., Misha Vainberg, the obese son of a wealthy Russian, makes his way to Absurdsvani, a small unstable country on the brink of civil war, where he becomes embroiled in the ridiculous conflict, risks his life, and falls in love, all the while plotting to somehow get to America. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.

Absurdistan

"When his dream of the perfect marriage, the perfect son, and the perfect life implodes, a Wall Street millionaire takes a cross-country bus trip in search of his college sweetheart and ideals of youth. Myopic, narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his 3 year-old-son's diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart, whom he hasn't seen or spoken to in years. Meanwhile, reeling from the fight that caused Barry's departure, his super-smart wife Seema--a driven first-generation American who craved a picture-perfect life, with all the accoutrements of a huge bank account--has her own demons to face. How these two imperfect characters navigate the Shteyngartian chaos of their own making is the heart of this biting, brilliant, emotionally resonant novel very much of our times"--

Lake Success

In a novel about being an outsider in America and what it means to be an American, Vladimir, a young Russian-American immigrant, pursues his dreams of success, wealth, and a girlfriend, as his quest takes him deep into uncharted territory.

The Russian Debutante's Handbook

The Bradford-Shmulkin family is falling apart. A very modern blend of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and New England WASP, they love one another deeply but the pressures of life in an unstable America are fraying their bonds. There's Daddy, a struggling, cash-thirsty editor whose Russian heritage gives him a surprising new currency in the upside-down world of twenty-first-century geopolitics; his wife, Anne Mom, a progressive, underfunded blue blood from Boston who's barely holding the household together; their son, Dylan, whose blond hair and Mayflower lineage provide him pride of place in the newly forming American political order; and, above all, the young Vera, half-Jewish, half-Korean, and wholly original.

Observant, sensitive, and always writing down new vocabulary words, Vera wants only three things in life: to make a friend at school; Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who will at last tell Vera the secret of who she really is and how to ensure love's survival in this great, mad, imploding world.

Vera, or Faith: A Novel

Roman. Der große neue Roman des gefeierten Autors

Landpartie

Handbuch für den russischen Debütanten

Megasmutná pravdivá lovestory

Katia Bagnoli

Il manuale del debuttante russo

Figen Bingül

Absürdistan

SUPER SØRGELIG SAND KÆRLIGHEDSHISTORIE er Gary Shteyngarts vilde, syrede, dystopiske og ekstremt underholdende fremtidsroman om et Amerika på afgrundens rand. Vi er i den nærmeste fremtid – lad os bare sige en gang i næste uge – hvor et efterhånden funktionelt analfabetisk Amerika er ved at smelte sammen. Men sig det ikke til den stakkels Lenny Abramov, den 39-årige søn af en vred russisk emigrant, stolt forfatter til verdens måske sidste dagbog og mindre stolt indehaver af en skaldet plet formet som staten Ohio. På trods af sit job hos firmaet Post-Human Services, som forsøger at sælge udødelighed til sine super rige kunder, er døden utvivlsomt i hælene på denne kolesterol-rige tyksak af en mand. Og det er måske slet ikke så mærkeligt. Lenny er på alle måder fra et andet århundrede – han elsker bøger (eller trykte, indbundne medieartefakter, som de hedder nu), selvom de fleste af hans jævnaldrende synes de lugter og er irriterende. Men endnu mere end bøger elsker Lenny Eunice Park, en utrolig lækker og utrolig ond 24-årig koreansk-amerikansk kvinde, der netop har afsluttet college med en grad i ”Billeder” og sidefag i ”Selvhævdelse”. Lenny og Eunice bliver kæreste, og Eunice bruger straks sin uddannelse i selvhævelse til at opgradere det tunge drog Lenny med en ny garderobe og en mere udadvendt facon. Men America er på randen af sammenbrud, der er optøjer i Central Park, tanks ruller rundt i Manhattans gader, dollaren er historie og de kinesiske kreditorer er ved at miste tålmodigheden. Uforknyt insisterer Lenny på sin kærlighed til Amerika og til Eunice. Han vil overbevise sin lunefulde nye kærlighed om, at der mere end nogensinde er behov for ægte menneskelighed og kærlighed i en tid, hvor man kan afgøre mulige partneres ”hotness-” og ”holdbarhedsfaktor” ved at trykke på en knap; hvor de rige lever for evigt, og de fattige dør hurtigt. SUPER SØRGERLIG SAND KÆRLIGHEDSHISTORIE er en rablende morsom, lidt sørgerlig, nok ikke helt sand kærlighedsroman om den nære fremtid. En suveræn opfølger til succesen ABSURDISTAN.

Super sørgelig sand kærlighedshistorie

Το 1979 ο επτάχρονος Ίγκορ Στάινγκαρτ και οι εβραϊκής καταγωγής γονείς του εγκατέλειψαν τη Σοβιετική Ένωση για τον καταναλωτικό παράδεισο των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών της Αμερικής. Το συνεσταλμένο και ασθματικό αγόρι είχε την αίσθηση ότι μεγάλωνε με μια επίμονη λαχτάρα – για φαγητό, αποδοχή, λέξεις, για όλα όσα θα τον συντρόφευαν ως την ενήλικη ζωή του. Στα πέντε του έγραψε το πρώτο του μυθιστόρημα O Λένιν και η μαγική του χήνα και η γιαγιά του τον αντάμειψε με μια φέτα τυριού για κάθε σελίδα. Με τον καιρό, στη νέα του πατρίδα, ο παράξενος Ίγκορ έγινε Γκάρι ώστε να περιορίσει το ξύλο που έτρωγε από τα άλλα παιδιά στο σχολείο. Οι αταίριαστοι γονείς του έτρεφαν γι’ αυτόν μεγάλες φιλοδοξίες. Τους διέψευσε και τους γέμισε ντροπή. Η μητέρα του, αναμειγνύοντας τα ρωσικά με τα αγγλικά, επινόησε τον όρο Φέιλιουρτσκα, δηλαδή Μικρή Aποτυχία, για να ονοματίσει τον γιο της, μάλλον με αγάπη. Ο Γκάρι ήταν πεπεισμένος ότι η ζωή του θα ήταν μια αλυσίδα απογοητεύσεων και ματαιώσεων. Τα πράγματα όμως δεν εξελίχθηκαν ακριβώς έτσι. Ύστερα από τρία επιτυχημένα μυθιστορήματα ο Γκάρι Στάινγκαρτ στρέφεται στην αυτοβιογραφική πεζογραφία. Αναπολώντας και αναπλάθοντας τα περασμένα, με αυτοσαρκαστικό χιούμορ και πηγαία συγκίνηση, μοιράζεται μαζί μας την αγωνία ενός μετανάστη και ενός συγγραφέα που, μεταξύ δύο αντιφατικών κόσμων, προσπαθεί να βρει τη δική του θέση. Προκλητική και τρυφερή, η Μικρή Aποτυχία είναι ένα βιβλίο ξεκαρδιστικού γέλιου αλλά και λυτρωτικών δακρύων. «Το περίμενα πως η αυτοβιογραφία του [...] θα ήταν ακριβώς τόσο ξεκαρδιστική, τόσο απροκάλυπτη και λεπτομερής όσο αποδείχθηκε· αυτό που δεν περίμενα ήταν η ψυχή αλλά και ο πόνος που υπάρχουν στο βιβλίο [...] Ο Πόρτνοϊ (του Φίλιπ Ροθ) συναντά τον Τσέχoφ που συναντά τον Στάινγκαρτ! Τι καλύτερο;» ADAM GOPNIK «Πώς [...] εξελίχθηκε σ’ έναν από τους πλέον αγαπημένους συγγραφείς στην Αμερική σήμερα [ο Γκάρι Στάινγκαρτ]; Με αγώνα, τόσο σε ιστορικό όσο και ατομικό επίπεδο, με πολύ χιούμορ και τσαγανό. Πάνω απ’ όλα όμως, εντείνοντας την προσοχή του: στον τρόπο που οι άνθρωποι μιλούν, συμπεριφέρονται, αγαπούν αλλά και πληγώνουν ο ένας τον άλλο. Αυτό είναι που δίνει στα μυθιστορήματά του την ευφρόσυνη ενέργειά τους και που κάνει τούτη την αυτοβιογραφία, κατά τη γνώμη μου, το καλύτερό του βιβλίο μέχρι σήμερα». ZADIE SMITH «Μια αυτοβιογραφία για την αιωνιότητα. Πήγα να πνιγώ από τα γέλια στην πρώτη σελίδα και έκλεισα το βιβλίο με μάτια υγρά απ’ τη συγκίνηση [...] Εδώ όμως το χιούμορ του [Γκάρι Στάινγκαρτ] αποτελεί αναπόσπαστο μέρος ενός βαθύτατου ψυχολογικού ταξιδιού. Βιβλίο γενναίο και ατρόμητο, η Μικρή Αποτυχία είναι ό,τι καλύτερο έχει γράψει μέχρι τώρα». MARY KARR «Η ιστορία της οικογένειάς του είναι ξεχωριστή και την αφηγείται με το θάρρος, τη σύνεση και την εξυπνάδα που θα περιμέναμε από τον ίδιο, έναν από τους πιο αστείους και διασκεδαστικούς μυθιστοριογράφους της Αμερικής». CARL HIAASEN

Μια αυτοβιογραφία

Μικρή αποτυχία

In a novel about being an outsider in America and what it means to be an American, Vladimir, a young Russian-American immigrant, pursues his dreams of success, wealth, and a girlfriend, as his quest takes him deep into uncharted territory. A first novel. 25,000 first printing.

Heralded as “one of his generation’s most original and exhilarating writers” by The New York Times, Gary Shteyngart has fused his literary chops and biting humor into one-of-a-kind fiction that provokes, inspires, and entertains—sometimes all at once. Throughout the two bestselling novels in this eBook bundle, Absurdistan and Super Sad True Love Story, Shteyngart is at the height of his powers: “wildly funny” (San Francisco Chronicle), “freakishly intelligent” (Elle), “ridiculously witty and painfully prescient” (Time). Don’t miss Gary Shteyngart’s highly anticipated memoir, Little Failure, an American immigrant story of a lifelong misfit who finally finds his place in the world, told with the author’s sharp powers of observation, self-deprecating humor, surprising revelations, and moving insights into the human heart. ABSURDISTAN “Exuberant, wise, hilarious . . . a long, funny, heartbreaking lament for home, whatever that means, and wherever that might be.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review Meet Misha Vainberg, son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia and a 325-pound patriot of no country save New York City. Misha just wants to live in the South Bronx with his hot Latina girlfriend, but after his gangster father murders an Oklahoma businessman, all hopes of a U.S. visa are lost. Salvation lies in tiny, oil-rich Absurdistan, where a crooked consular officer will sell Misha a Belgian passport. Then civil war breaks out, a local warlord installs Misha as minister of multicultural affairs, and our hero finds himself fighting for his life, falling in love, and trying to figure out if a normal life is still possible in the twenty-first century. SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY “Wonderful . . . [combines] the tenderness of the Chekhovian tradition with the hormonal high jinks of a Judd Apatow movie.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times In the near future, America is crushed by a financial crisis, and our patient Chinese creditors may just be ready to foreclose on the whole mess. Then Lenny Abramov, son of a Russian immigrant janitor and ardent fan of “printed, bound media artifacts” (aka books), meets Eunice Park, an impossibly cute and impossibly cruel Korean American woman with a major in Images and a minor in Assertiveness. Could falling in love redeem a planet falling apart? All Lenny has to do is convince his fickle new love that there is still value in being a real human being. Praise for Gary Shteyngart “Compared with most young novelists his age . . . Shteyngart is a giant mounted on horseback. He ranges more widely, sees more sweepingly and gets where he’s going with far more aplomb.”—The New York Times Book Review “Obscenely gifted . . . [His] prose never fails to pop, and nothing escapes his satiric eye.”—Entertainment Weekly “The Joseph Heller of the information age.”—Salon “His imagination is either warped or prophetic; you choose. But his writing is brilliant.”—The Seattle Times “Not since mid-seventies Woody Allen has anyone cracked so wise and so well.”—Esquire “There is no one better at skewering social systems.”—The Wall Street Journal

Absurdistan and Super Sad True Love Story: Two Bestselling Novels

Jonathan Safran Foer

Roxane Gay

Jonathan Ames

Joyce Carol Oates

Billy Collins

Joshua Ferris

Lee Child

Valeria Luiselli

Alain Mabanckou

Sloane Crosley

Jonathan Coulton

Aimee Mann

Lee Child's street corner. Gary Shteyngart's bed. Joyce Carol Oates's classroom. Roxane Gay's dream house. Billy Collins's New York City. Aimee Mann and Jonathan Coulton's kitchen. Valeria Luiselli's writing desk. Sloane Crosley's conference call. Alain Mabanckou's Department of Human Resources. Jonathan Ames's shrink's office. Jonathan Safran Foer's Genius Bar. Joshua Ferris's America.What do these places have in common? More than might initially meet the eye. They're the spaces¿real or imagined¿where thirteen remarkably talented and original voices do their work. These writers, poets, and singer-songwriters come together to give us a guided tour through the places that inspire them. There's mystery here. Dark confessions. Office crushes. Tales of deals made, careers built and broken, and the love and dread and hope of being at work.Everyone works someplace. This group of authors has created a place that is by turns hilarious, illuminating, shocking, wonderful. It might make you cry. It will certainly make you laugh. And you might never see your own office in the same (fluorescent?) light again.

A Story of Love, Suspense and Paperclips

Speaking of Work

Amerika in de nabije toekomst. Het land is failliet en in oorlog met Venezuela. Central Park is uitgegroeid tot een getto, en iedereen loopt verplicht rond met een äppärät - de smartphone van de toekomst, waarmee alle persoonsgegevens voor de hele wereld zichtbaar zijn geworden: je inkomen, je gezondheidsstatus, met wie je het bed hebt gedeeld, wat je het laatst hebt gekocht, en hoe sexy je wordt gerankt. Lenny, een 39-jarige romanticus - trotse eigenaar van waarschijnlijk het laatste handgeschreven dagboek ter wereld, iets minder trotse eigenaar van een kale plek op zijn achterhoofd in de vorm van de staat Ohio - is hopeloos verliefd op de veel jongere en beeldschone Eunice Park. Eunice, een 24-jarige van Koreaanse afkomst, besluit zijn liefde te beantwoorden. Niet omdat ze verliefd is, maar omdat ze niet goed weet wat ze anders moet doen behalve Lenny leren hoe hij effectiever zijn tanden kan poetsen en dat ruimvallende shirts met een streepmotief zijn toenemende gewicht wat kunnen verbloemen. Terwijl het land onder vuur ligt is Lenny - blind van liefde - vastberaden zijn droomvrouw ervan te overtuigen dat het leven bijzonder is, zélfs in een tijdperk waar mensen met één druk op de knop iemands 'neukbaarheid' en 'levensverwachting' om zeep kunnen helpen. Kan Lenny's eindeloze romantiek de wereld behoeden voor een grote catastrofe?

Supertriest waargebeurd liefdesverhaal

De kleine, astmatische Gary Shteyngart verhuist van Leningrad naar Amerika. Zijn ouders hopen dat hij advocaat wordt, of op zijn minst een gewetensvolle ploeteraar op Wall Street, maar dat blijkt niet weggelegd voor hun dromerige zoon. Zijn moeder verzint de naam Misloeksjka â Kleine Mislukkeling. Een troetelnaam. Meestal. Schipperend tussen het Joods- Russische familieleven en de Amerikaanse ambitie, leeft hij in twee tegengestelde werelden, wensend dat hij een echt thuis vindt. En iemand die verliefd op hem zou worden. En iemand die hem 69 cent zou kunnen lenen voor een hamburger van McDonaldâ s. Op provocerende, hilarische en vindingrijke wijze laat Kleine Mislukkeling zien dat een levenslang buitenbeentje dankzij zijn verbeelding een literaire stem heeft, en tegen alle verwachtingen in, een plaats in de wereld.

Kleine mislukkeling

Una atinada visión de la transición del infierno del socialismo al infierno del capitalismo. Bienvenido a Absurdistán, reino del petróleo y la ambición desmedida. A Misha Vainberg le cierran las puertas de Estados Unidos cuando su padre -un influyente mafioso ruso- mata a un hombre de negocios de Oklahoma. Sin visado y sin esperanzas, ha de tomar un camino alternativo para volver junto a su chica del Bronx: viaja a la corrupta República Absurdsvanï para conseguir un pasaporte belga. Parece un plan sencillo, pero pronto todo se complica. En Absurdistán, Misha se ve envuelto en un surrealista conflicto bañado en sangre, petróleo y oscuras intrigas. ¿Podrá salir de aquella pesadilla y volver a su sueño americano? Reseñas: «Una inteligente sátira que entretiene de principio a fin; será difícil encontrar este año una novela política más divertida y aguda que ésta.» Librería Powells «La gráfica y burlona sátira de Shteyngart es un reflejo de cómo se vive el sueño americano en las hambrientas nuevas democracias. Su complejo y simpático protagonista es digno de ser comparado con los personajes legendarios de la literatura americana.» Publishers Weekly «Absurdistán es una magnífica sátira de la nueva oligarquía rusa, del estilo de vida americano, y de la megalomanía, consumismo y afán por explotar a pequeños países que comparten ambas naciones.» The Washington Post «Una sátira profundamente divertida, genuinamente conmovedora y completamente adorable.» Time «Esta novela es tan vigorosa, tan segura de su brutal superioridad, que sólo respirando, sudando, estando frente a ella, se puede percibir su grandeza.» The New York Times Book Review «Una viva inteligencia brilla en cada página.» Washington Post «Comparado con la mayoría de novelistas de su edad, Shteyngart es un gigante a lomos de un caballo. Alcanza mayor profundidad, observa con más agudeza y llega donde quiere con mucho más aplomo.» The New York Times Books Review

Gary Shteyngart

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