Member Reviews

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  • Rated 3 stars

  “Funny, funny, funny, but the actual story (despite serious hijinx) became a bore and the higly-nuanced political satire a little too much so. Shteyngart cannot write a sentence that is not self-satirical, and this makes it difficult to care about the main character at all -- even when he is begging you to be serious for a moment.”

  jenlindner wrote this review Sunday, August 31 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 0 stars

  “This reminded me a great deal of Confederacy of Dunces...except that I liked it. It is written in the same style, but the main character is actually likable and there is a great deal of very funny political satire along the way...gave me more to grab onto than just a fat anti-hero (can you tell I am not a huge fan of C of D?). This is not my new favourite book in the world, but it had a charm all its own. ”

  ninamann wrote this review Tuesday, August 5 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “This book could make you sad for the human race, or endlessly delighted. A great book if you are stuck in Eastern Europe or Central Asia and feeling nostalgic for New York, pizza, homegirls, Hot97.”

  bhagoosh wrote this review Thursday, July 10 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “i thought this book was amusing. the plot was wild and almost written in the form of gonzo journalism... but not quite as good. it had undertones of political opinions nested throughout it... and i like that shit.”

  Luke K wrote this review Thursday, May 29 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “This book is a little nutty, and most of the time I was uncertain why I was reading such vulgar crap. But, toward the end, I am glad I read it because it was a creative satire that allowed me to laugh at the absurdity of much of the past 8 years of bad politics.
  
  OK - after a few months, I find myself appreciating it so much more - it really is a political commentary about the current state of affairs and frankly, it is all as absurd as this book...I am even appreciating the vulgarity, because I think it was the author's devise to take it over the top. brilliant!”

  Nancy J wrote this review Thursday, August 14 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 2 stars

  “Well, I just liked this book better when Shteyngart wrote it the first time and called it "The Russian Debutant's Handbook." This is clearly a one-note author. And, yuck, enough with the penis already, we got it.”

  Blue Cypress Books wrote this review Thursday, April 10 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 2 stars

  “I just didn't get this book... It got star reviews and won Book of the Year from some literary columns, but I just didn't understand a lot of the Russian/Jewish satire in here. This book had its great moments and fantastic one-liners, but I will relegate it to donation bin.”

  Jason Y wrote this review Tuesday, April 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “Interesting satire, too much talking about a morbidly obese russian man's genitals.”

  Nora C wrote this review Thursday, March 20 2008. ( reply | permalink )