Absurdistan (2006)

Poor Misha Vainberg. The protagonist of Gary Shteyngart's acclaimed satirical novel, Absurdistan, desperately wants to leave his homeland, Russia, to return to the United States. There, Misha went to college on his oligarch father's ruble and, upon graduation and a move to Manhattan, met his beloved Bronx-born and -bred girlfriend, Rouenna, who awaits his return to the U.S.

But Misha begins the story stuck in his native St. Petersburg (or St. Leninsburg, as he prefers to call it) because the U.S. State Department won't give him a visa. Why? Because his father, Boris--in the stereotypical Russian oligarch (read mobster) fashion--had an Oklahoma businessman offed when a business deal went south.

After Boris is killed in retaliation for the murder of the American, Misha ends up traveling to the former Soviet republic of Absurdsvanï, where he tries to swing a deal with a corrupt Belgian diplomat to obtain a forged Belgian passport in his first step to get back to America. Yet instead of finding himself one step closer to the USA, Misha finds himself further mired when he gets caught in the middle of a civil war between two Christian ethnic groups.

This is the setting for the bulk of Shteyngart's farcical tale, and it works well for most of the story. Shteyngart sharply and vividly portrays Absurdsvanï as a backwater country on the Caspian Sea, rich in oil and possessing a capital city newly invaded by Halliburton and other American oil companies. The two warring ethnic groups--the Svani and the Sevo--hate each other simply because each group prefers a different version of the Orthodox Christian crucifix, which difference in preference led to a bit of ethnic cleansing centuries ago. As the story progresses, we come to find out that there is much more to this ethnic conflict than appears on the surface (which I won't spoil here), and it doesn't have to do with crucifix preferences.

A core strength of the book is the character of Misha. He's grossly overweight (referred to as "Snack Daddy" by his college friends) and has a penchant for vintage track suits, gold chains, and hip-hop. He was the victim of a botched circumcision by Chabadniks, so he has a few issues with his khui (as he calls it). He is hopelessly but charmingly naive when it comes to women. Due to his father's fortune, he has enough money to last him for eternity. But it is this fact, which has allowed him to cruise through his adult life with no true purpose, that causes him to pursue a true sense of manhood.

Shteyngart deftly uses Misha's story to pillory Russian culture and immoral global capitalism. In the book, Absurdi locals refer to Halliburton as "Golly Burton," and the Absurdi government officials do everything they possibly can to suck up to the minions of the energy conglomerate.

The book, however, is not without its problems. Shteyngart's mode of satire is often hilarious, but it also tends to be cloying. His humor borders on the overly clever, and some might find his prose to convey conceit instead of incisive social criticism. This produces some rocky patches in the book that I had to struggle to get past. But these deficiencies do not outweigh the story as a whole, which is unquestionably entertaining. In closing, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this as a purchase unless you're a serious book collector; however, I do recommend it as a library loaner for an entertaining summer read.