Reviews

Supertriest waargebeurd liefdesverhaal by Gary Shteyngart

lesreadintoit's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I loved and hated this book. It's wild how much our society today reflects in this book and it was written long before some of the events took place. The characters frustrate you, but then, you can't put down the book. Interesting storyline nonetheless and a thought provoking read. 

jslive's review against another edition

5.0

Great read, though the illiterate twiteresque style can be grating.

mrscaew's review against another edition

3.0

A quite irritating and depressing book. It would be nice if dystopian novels didn’t feel so resemblant of modern life. Makes me sick of cell phones even more.

quaerentia's review against another edition

4.0

There is something very credible and chilling about this contemporary dystopia. (Are they coming back into fashion again now that the world seems crazier than ever and the satirists seem the sanest?) This at times funny, crude, brutal book layers it on thick, in a New York in the throes of cultural and institutional collapse.

At one level it's just what it says on the tin. A love triangle story. But it has depths and richness, a delight in its knowing superficiality, that makes it so much more.
Rampant capitalism and its aggressive and unbeatable logic are the target here. But no longer is it the dollar that rules. Instead the mighty yuan controls all it surveys.

And so it's hard to miss the wide variety of connections and resonances with the real world. Like all the best fictional universes, this parallel helps us see our own far more clearly. And it's not a pretty sight...

A fascinating and gripping read

mpetc618's review against another edition

3.0

It would have earned four stars if there was a better ending, which came across as exhausting and hurried to just end the story. Besides the dry ending, the book was highly engaging and satirically presented the extremes of social media and the grave distances created in a struggle for connectivity.
The application for rating "attractiveness" instantly made me think of Match.com. It was also interesting to read how people were valued on how well they could spend money, how liberal arts programs were completely decimated, "Assertiveness" a major, really? And professions such as Credit and Media were king.

This book actually had me laughing at the absurdity, sorry for the pun on the author's best seller, yet caused me to take a philosophical look at the effects of social media on society and the effects of society on social media.

And now I am going to post my review to Facebook.

irenesuamar's review against another edition

4.0

It takes a bit of time to get use to the "futuristic" language, but it is an interesting reading.

jessyly's review against another edition

4.0

I basically stole this from the book jacket, but it is like 1984 meets Lolita. Dystopian, set in the not-too-distant future where American literacy/culture has been downgraded to that of a 15-year-old boy who watches way more than just hbo. Not for the prudish, but a scary/acerbic look at what will happen if we don't get our heads out of our screens and fix the economy. Lots of hilarious references to pop culture, though. Get through the first couple pages and it's hard to put down. Definitely the kind of book where you like the characters more as it goes on.

ptrobes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

 So to be honest I really didn’t get this book. There were parts where I was pretty surprised at what happened but most of the time I was just cringing.

Nice concept but not for me.

sp3cia1j's review against another edition

2.0

The concept of this book was very interesting, especially in light of our current political situation and with social media taking over. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get into the book. The struggles of the two main characters were constantly reiterated, pondered on, and complained about, but it didn't seem like any progress was made. The book moved very slow, and the little action that transpired in their apocalyptic world was delivered as though far away,and without much description. Overall, the concept and formatting of the story were good, but the meat of the story wasn't there for me.

toebean5's review against another edition

3.0

The title is pretty accurate- super sad, foreseeably true, and a love story, all in one. The book was hard to get into, at first, because I felt an overwhelming sense of future-shock. Words, terms, and technology were being thrown around without explanation, but it was well-done. It gave me the same sense of confusion and isolation as the main character, Lenny, who just doesn't 'get it.' The future is a grim looking place, but this book really made me feel like it was the logical destination of the road our society is currently on. Scary.