Super Sad True Love Story (2010) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 0 stars

“Set in the not too distant future, it is an interesting possible outcome of the democratization of digital social "everything" - age discrimination and sexual promiscuity, par for the course and very enabled by highly available social networks and presence sensing "apparats" in Shteyngart's future. WARNING: some strong sexual stuff in this one, but definitely worth a read.”

• Rated 4 stars

“*** Spoiler Alert ***

Honest unflinching view of a future America where the need for increased security tramples all over basic human rights for its citizens. The love story of the title is actually affecting and realistic especially in its ending. Very readable.”

• Rated 0 stars

“This is a romantic drama that takes place in a rapidly crumbling, yet futuristic, New York City. The most interesting aspect of the book for me was how the author portrayed his view of where pervasive social networking is leading us (besides posting book reviews on LinkedIn).“ All of the characters have apparats, basically highly evolved smartphones, which continuously project data about their owner while collecting it from others. This leads to an obsession with metrics, such as credit scores, attractiveness ratings, and health scores, at the cost of developing meaningful relationships.”

• Rated 5 stars

“This young man has an amazing handle on modern life in the early 21st century and is a keen observer of the human race. From technology to economics, he casts a humorous but also chilling glance into the near future that could easily befall all of us.”

• Rated 4 stars

“A novel set in the near future NYC, where shallow thoughts have been legitimized by society, the gap between income classes has achieved true clarity, and America is on the brink of corporate takeover. A strange courtship blossoms between a middle aged neurotic Jewish professional and a Korean college grad with family baggage. Told in turns with his diary entries and her emails. (B)”

• Rated 0 stars

“This is one of the better novels I have read in a long time. Shteyngart looks into the not so distant future, and with great irony and satire, painting a picture of how the worst of our media and consumer obsessions lead us to our downfall as a culture. His anti-hero, Lenny Abramov, remembers the days when we focused on substantial past-times like reading books. He tragically falls in love with a much younger woman, who knows nothing of the pleasures of life "off-line". Please, read it!”

• Rated 0 stars

“Super scary near future”

• Rated 0 stars

“Dystopian near-future black comedy SF novel based on current trends in social networking, smartphone integration, and national debt crises. 'Like 1984 as written by Nabokov,' the jacket blurb reads. Maybe ...”

• Rated 0 stars

“Not as good as I thought it would be. In a way it reminded me of Sanders' The Tomorrow File! He skates by too much on NY hipness. ”