Harman Patil (Editor)

Absurdistan (novel)

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Language
  
English

OCLC
  
61821954

Originally published
  
2 May 2006

Genre
  
Novel

ISBN
  
978-1-4000-6196-9

3.3/5
Goodreads

Publication date
  
2 May 2006

Dewey Decimal
  
813/.6 22

Author
  
Gary Shteyngart

Country
  
United States of America

Publisher
  
Random House

Absurdistan (novel) t2gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcSAEOlv6PfV8tklBJ

Media type
  
Print (hardback & paperback)

Pages
  
352 pp (first edition, hardback)

Similar
  
Gary Shteyngart books, Novels

Absurdistan is a 2006 novel by Gary Shteyngart. It chronicles the adventures of Misha Vainberg, the 325-pound son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia, as he struggles to return to his true love in the South Bronx.

Contents

Plot

After Misha's father kills a prominent businessman from Oklahoma, the INS bars the entire Vainberg family entry to the United States, trapping Misha in his native Saint Petersburg, which he nostalgically refers to as "St. Leninsburg." Misha, a.k.a. "Snack Daddy" from his days at Accidental College, somewhere in the Midwestern U.S. (the college resembles Oberlin College, which Shteyngart attended, while the name is a play on Occidental College), is desperate to return to his true love, Rouenna, whom he met while she was working at a "titty bar" and who now attends Hunter College, at Misha's expense.

Misha's father is killed by a fellow oligarch. Soon after, Misha is given an opportunity to buy a Belgian passport from a corrupt diplomat in the fictitious ex-Soviet republic of Absurdsvanϊ (also known as Absurdistan).

Absurdistan's reputation for oil riches got it the title "Norway of the Caspian." Divided between two major ethnic groups, the Sevo and Svanϊ, whose mutual hatred stems from a dispute over which way the "footrest" of the Orthodox cross should be tilted, Absurdistan soon finds itself embroiled in civil war and Misha is forced to take sides on behalf of a new love.

Appointed "Minister of Multiculturalism," he is asked to petition Israel for funds, but he soon finds he is being played by the Sevo leader, who has, in fact, been in league with the Svanϊ leader all along.

Reviews

Absurdistan debuted to mainly favorable reviews, including a glowing review by Walter Kirn on the cover of the New York Times Book Review. The same paper's Sunday Book Review listed it as one of the 10 best books of 2006.[1]

References

Absurdistan (novel) Wikipedia