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A review by higuma
Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart
3.0
I really wanted to like this book. I really did. But, the main character was spoiled and obnoxious. The author tried to create a sort of Russian expat Ignatius Reilly, sans any heart or likeability whatsoever. Also, I get really annoyed when authors interject themselves into the book as an auxilary character. It smacks of "hey! look at how clever I am"-ism, which is my least favorite literary "ism".
Why did I give this book three stars rather than two? I did enjoy his descriptions of "Absurdistan," a mixture of the Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The descriptions of the people and conflict of this fictional nation were also entertaining. Although I despised the main character, I did think that the author did a fairly good job of depicting events as seen by Misha.
With that said, I think I would have liked this book more if the main character were anybody else. I did like him a little more at the end, but not by much.
Why did I give this book three stars rather than two? I did enjoy his descriptions of "Absurdistan," a mixture of the Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The descriptions of the people and conflict of this fictional nation were also entertaining. Although I despised the main character, I did think that the author did a fairly good job of depicting events as seen by Misha.
With that said, I think I would have liked this book more if the main character were anybody else. I did like him a little more at the end, but not by much.