Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A deliciously dark tale of America's dysfunctional coming years--and the timeless and tender feelings that just might bring us back from the brink. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
The New York Times - The Washington Post - The Boston Globe - San Francisco Chronicle - The Seattle Times - O: The Oprah Magazine - Maureen Corrigan, NPR - Salon - Slate - Minneapolis Star Tribune - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - The Kansas City Star - Charlotte Observer - The Globe and Mail - Vancouver Sun - Montreal Gazette - Kirkus Reviews
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 an Russian immigrant janitor and ardent fan of "printed, bound media artifacts" (aka books), meets Eunice Park, an impossibly cute Korean American woman with a major in Images and a minor in Assertiveness. Could falling in love redeem a planet falling apart?
The New York Times - The Washington Post - The Boston Globe - San Francisco Chronicle - The Seattle Times - O: The Oprah Magazine - Maureen Corrigan, NPR - Salon - Slate - Minneapolis Star Tribune - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - The Kansas City Star - Charlotte Observer - The Globe and Mail - Vancouver Sun - Montreal Gazette - Kirkus Reviews
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 an Russian immigrant janitor and ardent fan of "printed, bound media artifacts" (aka books), meets Eunice Park, an impossibly cute Korean American woman with a major in Images and a minor in Assertiveness. Could falling in love redeem a planet falling apart?
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Community Reviews
Gary Shteyngart's satirical view of the near future in America is unnerving in that it rings so true. China has overtaken America as Super Power. It holds the purse strings, and America is in debt to it in an alarming way. The currency is now the Yuan or Yuan-pegged dollars.
The corporate buyouts and mergers made me laugh out loud -- AlliedWasteCVSCitigroupCredit and ColgatePalmoliveYum!BrandsViacomCredit, to name two.
Everyone uses an "apparat," a device that holds all of your information. It's a phone. It's a computer. It's an archive. You can point your apparat at another person's apparat and see where they went to school, what their cholesterol level is and where they rank in desirability in the room. The population is functionally illiterate; but our nerdy hero, Lenny Abramov, still likes to read books.
This is a May/December love story between two very dysfunctional, mismatched, unlikely people -- with a twist. I loved it. It was smart, funny, and made me squirm at the thought of this ever being our future.
The corporate buyouts and mergers made me laugh out loud -- AlliedWasteCVSCitigroupCredit and ColgatePalmoliveYum!BrandsViacomCredit, to name two.
Everyone uses an "apparat," a device that holds all of your information. It's a phone. It's a computer. It's an archive. You can point your apparat at another person's apparat and see where they went to school, what their cholesterol level is and where they rank in desirability in the room. The population is functionally illiterate; but our nerdy hero, Lenny Abramov, still likes to read books.
This is a May/December love story between two very dysfunctional, mismatched, unlikely people -- with a twist. I loved it. It was smart, funny, and made me squirm at the thought of this ever being our future.
Yes, it is super sad, and also super funny.
Set in an apocalyptic New York City sometime in the not-so-distant future, Lenny Abramov, a kind of a sad sack almost-40-year-old, falls in love with beautiful 20-something Eunice Park. Improbably, she ends up moving in with him and gradually finding herself caring for him.
As their love is just beginning to bloom, NYC, and America, is on the verge of financial collapse, as China is threatening to pull the plug, and anarchy is erupting all around them. LNWI (Low Net Worth Individuals) are rioting in the parks (predicting a little bit of Occupy Wall Streeters?), and the National Guard has set up checkpoints all around the city. The best jobs are perceived to be in Retail or Credit, because life is all about SHOPPING.
Everyone carries around an apparat (there are umlauts in there but I don't know how to get them to come out here), which is basically like an iPad but it holds all your personal data, and if you point it at someone, you can see their credit score and how they rate in other ways, and you can find out how "hot", or not, you are as ranked against everyone else in the bar you're sitting in or the bus you're riding on. No one reads books anymore; they just stream text on their apparati. Books are regarded as old and smelly. (Of course Lenny has a whole Wall of Books.) All hell breaks loose when the violence really gets ugly and everyone's apparati suddenly stop working. Things get frightening when Lenny is unable to reach his parents on Long Island and Eunice her parents and sister in Fort Lee, NJ.
Cleverly told through Lenny's diaries and Eunice's apparat texts to her mother, sister, and bff Jenny. Amazing story.
Set in an apocalyptic New York City sometime in the not-so-distant future, Lenny Abramov, a kind of a sad sack almost-40-year-old, falls in love with beautiful 20-something Eunice Park. Improbably, she ends up moving in with him and gradually finding herself caring for him.
As their love is just beginning to bloom, NYC, and America, is on the verge of financial collapse, as China is threatening to pull the plug, and anarchy is erupting all around them. LNWI (Low Net Worth Individuals) are rioting in the parks (predicting a little bit of Occupy Wall Streeters?), and the National Guard has set up checkpoints all around the city. The best jobs are perceived to be in Retail or Credit, because life is all about SHOPPING.
Everyone carries around an apparat (there are umlauts in there but I don't know how to get them to come out here), which is basically like an iPad but it holds all your personal data, and if you point it at someone, you can see their credit score and how they rate in other ways, and you can find out how "hot", or not, you are as ranked against everyone else in the bar you're sitting in or the bus you're riding on. No one reads books anymore; they just stream text on their apparati. Books are regarded as old and smelly. (Of course Lenny has a whole Wall of Books.) All hell breaks loose when the violence really gets ugly and everyone's apparati suddenly stop working. Things get frightening when Lenny is unable to reach his parents on Long Island and Eunice her parents and sister in Fort Lee, NJ.
Cleverly told through Lenny's diaries and Eunice's apparat texts to her mother, sister, and bff Jenny. Amazing story.
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