The Russian Debutante's Handbook | Gary Shteyngart

The Russian Debutante's Handbook | Gary Shteyngart | Choppy, original, and, hilarious.

books:

The Russian Debuta...

	The Russian Debutante's Handbook Gary Shteyngart Riverhead Hardcover, 2002 - 452 pages average customer review:based on 85 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Vladimir is a young Russian-American immigrant whose capitalist dreams and desire for a girlfriend lead him off the straight and narrow into uncharted territory. From the dreary confines of New York City's Emma Lazarus Immigrant Absorption Society to the hip frontier wilderness of Prava - the Eastern European Paris of the nineties, whose grand and glorious beauty is marred only by the shadow of the looming statue of Stalin's foot - "The Russian Debutante's Handbook" is a hilarious, extravagant, yet uncannily true to life adventure.

dazzling

I am glad to see the term "picaresque" applied to this novel, for it truly belongs within that genre. But while the story bounds along, at times verging on the highly improbable, the language dazzles on every page - in every paragraph, in fact. The author, to whom English was (I imagine) a 2nd or 3rd language, shares with Joseph Conrad (and not a few other non-native English speakers) an enviable mastery of the most subtle wit, the choicest use of epithets, the snappiest of similes. And, having spent a bit of time in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the past decade, I thought more than once or twice in the course of my reading how well that valley city, with its river, smog - and wall-to-wall gangsters - could have served as the setting of this unlikely but likeable tale...

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Choppy, original, and, hilarious.

Choppy and broken plot line reads like broken English (as intended). Hilarity ensues on every page. Page-turner start to finish. Russian debutantes never make appearance.

Funny and clever but drags on

As a Russian immigrant (he came to US when he was 7), Shteyngart writes about what he knows and it shows in his books. He is an excellent writer. Like his subsequent novel, Absurdistan, Russian Debutante's Handbook will deliver if it is humor, satire, and amusing prose you are after. If you do not mind reading the same type of genre and style then I would recommend both of his books. However, after Absurdistan I found certain aspects of this novel got tedious and by the end I was happy that it was over. Shteyngart's strength is his humor and original writing style. His bizarre plot and final chase scene became too much like a cheap Hollywood movie. Nevertheless I recommend reading at least one of his two books.

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Stretching belief

The principle character, Vladimir, is basically a non-descript Russian immigrant nebbish, in his mid-twenties, who has a dead end job (in an immigration absorption office) in Manhattan, an overbearing mother (hence the comparisons to Philip Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint") and a chubby girlfriend who works as a dominant/submissive. Like so many others his age, Vladimir is looking for a boost in his life, and gets it both by dating Francisca, the ultimate shiksa (unrealistically, he moves in with her and her family) and by meeting the criminally connected Rybakov, a crazy old Russian, desperate for U.S. citizenship. He gets mixed up with a mafioso figure in Florida, and, with the help of Rybakov, flees to the fictitious bleak Eastern European City of "Prava" (nothing like Prague at all, which is one of the most beautiful cities in the world) where he joins a mafioso gang headed by Rybakov's son. Surprisingly to me, Vladimir quickly rises as a result of a Ponzi scheme in which he attempts to rip off young American expatriates. This former schlemiel mama's boy apparently has the capacity to completely change his personality.

While I could appreciate the author's formidable writing skills and obvious ability to spin a good humorous yarn, ulitimately, the book didn't really work for me. In short, I didn't buy a number of the characters, but especially Vladimir. The plot (and even some of the stylistic writing) often felt quite forced to me, especially when Vladimir establishes himself so quickly in Prava demonstrating the confidence of a hard core scam artist. Of course, he also has the ability to easily win over the most desirable woman around, even though he isn't particularly attractive or clever. The ending, for anyone looking for any semblance of rationality, is completely absurd.

Nevertheless, I'm going to keep my eye on this author. I'll probably read "Absurdistan" at some point -- just not right away.

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