A review by rekadarnb
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

2.0

What to say about this...satirical novel, what to say? If this is the way the world is headed, please shoot me now. Seriously. The thought of having my every waking thought (ha, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), inclination, sexual preference, mood, etc. broadcasted to every person in my near (and not so near) vicinity makes me shudder with repulsion. I really wanted to stop reading this book, but I felt compelled to finish. It wasn’t poorly written by any means, and despite my outrage at some of the concepts (Fuckability rating?! Jesus be a fence!), as much as I hate to admit it, this book isn’t as far-fetched as I would like it to be: *heavy, heavy sigh* yet another reason not to bring children into this world that is only headed to hell in a hand basket. All of the characters in this book are laughable; needless to say, I didn’t like any of them. Lenny was a pathetic, bumbling idiot; he didn’t really do anything, he just felt everything all the time. Like, why do you want to live forever? You aren’t doing— or really aspiring to do—anything of note with your life. Your only redeeming quality is that you love books, and then you half-assed around with that love. You also “fell in love” with a girl because you could recognize the brokenness within her: why is that, Lenny? Why is that? I guess everybody’s got their thing *side eye* Let’s talk about this girl now: She’s a whiny brat. Like, real bad. She’s also a user, and completely damaged. Even her attempts to “help” seemed self-serving. I just hated her. Hell, I pretty much hated everyone in this book, especially Eunice and Joshie. The humanity was thoroughly lacking, which is the scary direction we all seem to be headed. I did enjoy some of the vernacular; it was interesting but not enough. This book is a downer: not because it was super sad or a super sad love story, but because the world in it is all too much of a possibility. The “love” part of this whole thing is laughable, so this “aint for the lovers only” (courtesy Maxwell). Matter of fact, tell the lovers to stay the hell away from this one altogether. I recommend this book for the readers who like their dose of doomsday with a slap of over-the-top sarcasm. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone I know, and I most certainly won’t be re-reading it.

*That being said, this rating is based on my personal tastes. I think it’s a good book, just not the book for me.