"With the enormous success of the critically acclaimed The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Gary Shteyngart established himself as one of the most talented writers of his generation. Open Absurdistan and meet our hero, the outsize Misha Vainberg, son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia, lover of large portions of food and drink, lover and inept performer of rap music, and lover of a South Bronx Latina whom he longs to rejoin in New York City, if only the American INS will grant him a visa. It won’t, because Misha’s late Beloved Papa whacked an Oklahoma businessman of some prominence; now Misha is paying the price of exile from his adopted American homeland. He’s stuck in Russia, dreaming of his beloved Rouenna and the Oz of NYC.
Misha’s quest in Absurdistan is a strange, oddly true-to-life look at how we live now from one of the most exciting and original new voices on the literary landscape.
GARY SHTEYNGART was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the United States seven years later. His debut novel, The Russian Debutante's Handbook, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. It was also named a New York Times Notable Book, a best book of the year by The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly, and one of the best debuts of the year by The Guardian, and has been translated into ten languages. His fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, and many other publications. He lives in New York.
