Even though you won’t find Gary Shteyngart’s latest novel, Super Sad True Love Story, shelved in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of your local Borders or B&N, it certainly deserves some geek lovin’ on Suvudu.
This satirical dystopian love story paints a vivid picture of a futuristic NYC that’s just barely on the strange side of reality today. “Äpäräti”, sleek little gadgets that are worn around the neck, allow Gary’s futuristic New Yorkers constant connection to shopping networks, and Facebook, er, I mean GlobalTeen, and are always transmitting information such as cholesterol, credit ranking, and even “fuckability,” which, to say the least, has practically eradicated the value of charm in a casual-perhaps-flirty bar encounter.
In the meantime, war is brewing with Venezuela, and America has gone into unimaginable debt with basically the rest of the world. The Chinese are threatening to take over and switch the dollar for the yuan. Riots are breaking out, and people who are “media” (those who basically just have a lot of followers on their blogs, which they are constantly updating with their äpäräts. the blogs range from mildly noteworthy to completely inane–one girl streams for hours and hours about her weight, while others are geared towards political commentary, celebrity gossip, the works) are mysteriously disappearing. You have to pass through National Guard checkpoints to go out to Long Island. The horror.
The protagonist is Lenny Abramov, the shlubby, aging son of Russian immigrants, is almost pitiably still in love with books (like, with pages) while the rest of the world is peacefully plugged in. He’s slowly and slovenly creeping into middle age while the rest of his peers are staying youthful and fit as a result of the latest eternal youth-giving technology that he’s supposed to be selling to High Net-Worth Individuals. He’s not doing too great of a job. Against the odds, Lenny falls in love with a young, hip and hot Korean girl named Eunice, and their tender yet borderline creepy (although Eunice is a bit older than 12, their age difference as well as Eunice’s flighty androgyny recalls Humbert’s nymphet romance in Lolita) relationship blossoms as New York City is torn apart by war.
I find it a bit off to describe this dystopic narrative / tragic love story as “refreshing,” but it’s been a long time since I’ve read anything this satisfying. Dark and foreboding, yet humorous and touching, this novel takes me back to cannon works such as Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World. Perhaps it’s the urgent critique on the movement of culture and technology away from good old books, ideas, love and freedom that never fails to get me hooked. I also loved it because the novel is an unabashed bow to the giants that created the science fiction subgenre of dystopian literature (I believe the one of the original titles kicking around was Ministry of Love). In style and in theme, this book doesn’t deny its sci-fi roots, despite the fact that it won’t be shelved in that section in your local brick & mortar bookstore. Oh, marketing.
Shteyngart is jetting around the country now reading from Super Sad True Love Story and signing books. Check him out if you can, he’s hilarious… and if you haven’t seen his book trailer (with a guest appearances from David Ebershoff, the editor, Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides author Jeffery Eugenides, and dreamy dreamy James Franco!) you absolutely need to indulge:
Oh, and buy the book! Click here to read “Lenny Hearts Eunice,” a short story starring SSTLS’s very own protagonists that ran in the New Yorker earlier in June. And if you still have the Shteyngart itch, go to the doctor check out Absurdistan (Random House, 2006) and The Russian Debutante’s Handbook (Riverhead, 2002).
