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.)
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.
June 2nd, 2005 at 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.
June 2nd, 2005 at 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.
June 2nd, 2005 at 9:34 pm
Save yourself the fitty cents. You can have my copy for free.
March 22nd, 2006 at 9:28 pm
[...] On the Strong Read recommendation of Dr J, I hopped on The Russian Debutante’s Handbook with a quickness. I had a feeling that I would enjoy Gary Shteyngart’s sensibility from reading an interview with Jeffrey Eugenides at Bookslut. I was not mistaken. The book is an absurdist adventure of Russian immigrant Vladimir’s poorly thought-out stab at assimilation. I particularly enjoyed Shteyngart’s use of language and his satirical eye. For example, when describing a crowd of fiercely communist revolutionary babushkas in Prava, he describes their little dogs as agit-pups. That killed me for some reason. Shteyngart also mentioned, in passing, an old man ordering the vegetarian liver at a restaurant. This is a particular pet peeve of mine; vegetarian sausage, tofu-rkey, etc. It was a quick throw away line, but it had me chuckling. Having now read the book, I am somewhat surprised at how much praise was heaped on this book. It’s an engaging, humorous tale, sure. I’m not sure that it reaches “BIG IMPORTANT BOOK” status. But whatever. You could bring much worse books to the beach this summer. Gary Shteyngart is an original voice, and I recommend picking this up. And it’s priced to move used at Amazon. [...]
April 25th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
[...] Somehow, the new novel by Gary Shteyngart, Absurdistan, has snuck up on me. The NYT reviews it in today’s paper. Shteyngart is the author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, which we disussed, here and here. [...]