Baby Got Books

The Russian Debutante’s Handbook

I’m just starting to emerge from the post-natal sleep deprivation fog, and the first book I chose to read in between naps was Gary Shteyngart’s The Russian Debutante’s Handbook. (My secret shame: I read this on the good DJ’s recommendation, enjoyed it, and decided to check out Shteyngart’s 2002 debut novel.)

debutante cover

Shteyngart has been compared to Nabokov. Fair enough, I thought. Russian immigrant. Strong command of the English language. Dry sense of humor. That much was evident after just the first couple of pages. I figured that comparison was just a lazy critic’s crutch, though; no one writes arid farce like Nabokov. But Shteyngart delivers. This dude is the real deal.

His protagonist, Vladimir Girshkin, is a Russian Jewish immigrant struggling to assimilate–sometimes succeeding, but mostly failing hilariously. He does manage to adopt the American twenty-something’s “glam-nerd” look, which is incomplete without “janitor pants.”

Girshkin is forced after a series of misadventures to Prava, a thinly disguised Prague, “the Paris of the ’90s” for recent American college grads. Never having been an expat, I can’t attest as to how accurate his depiction of this scene is. But I have my suspicions. I know some of these people. Girshkin goes to work for the Russian mob. Picaresque hijinks ensue.

I could recount the plot here, but I couldn’t do it justice, so I won’t. But it’s damned funny.

I come away from this book with a keen appreciation for Shteyngart’s use of the language. His send-ups of the special jargon of American popular culture that has somehow internationalized itself are especially hilarious. When a minor celebrity dj rolls into Prava he screams, “MC Paavo in de haus! In de pan-European ‘hood! Got de Helsinki beat, y’all can’t fuck wif!” His prickings of academe’s unique pretentions are also spot-on: A girlfriend’s father is “evolving” the field of Humor Studies as a history professor at City College; a “trio of emaciated grad students” stands around a pool table at a bar “with their cue sticks at the ready, as if waiting for funding to appear.” Apropos of nothing, but it got a guffaw out of me.

I’m going to be very curious to see what Shteyngart can pull off with his next novel. Like I said: The real deal.

Books, Fiction, Review | Dr J | June 1, 2005 9:30 pm

By DJ Cayenne, June 2, 2005 @ 8:42 am

Bwu-wu-ha-ha-ha (maniacal laugh), excellent. My diabolical plot is starting to come together. Now that you’ve had a positive comix experience, and I have managed to insert a graphic novel into your home (through generous loan of Persepolis to Mrs. J) – within in no time you will be attending Dragon Com dressed as an Imperial Stormtrooper. Bwu-ha-ha-ha.

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to read this book myself after checking out that link. Glad to hear that it was as advertised. It’s available used at Amazon for under fifty cents. Sounds like a done deal.

I read somewhere that his next book is going to be called Absurdistan, but a quick looksee at Amazon has a book by that title written by someone else. Who knows.
By Dr J, June 2, 2005 @ 9:34 pm

Save yourself the fitty cents. You can have my copy for free.
By DJ Cayenne, June 2, 2005 @ 3:54 pm

Sweet. I’m fired up to add it to the pile. I’ll get Mrs. Cayenne to get moving on that other book. We’ll swap.

Another positive sign is the Amazon list of books also purchased by people who bought this book is very interesting looking. I have read only one of the books, and the rest at least require some additional investigation.