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    Thalia Book Club: Gary Shteyngart Little Failure: A Memoir
    Thalia Book Club: Gary Shteyngart Little Failure: A Memoir
    Thalia Book Club: Gary Shteyngart Little Failure: A Memoir
    Audiobook1 hour

    Thalia Book Club: Gary Shteyngart Little Failure: A Memoir

    Written by Gary Shteyngart

    Narrated by Jay McInerney

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In conversation with Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City). The author of Super Sad True Love Story presents his new memoir, a seriously hilarious exploration of his life so far.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSymphony Space
    Release dateJul 1, 2014
    ISBN9781467682275
    Thalia Book Club: Gary Shteyngart Little Failure: A Memoir

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    Reviews for Thalia Book Club

    3.5/5

    250 ratings46 reviews

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    • 1/5
      This book was a hard read. Unfortunately the title of the book will be its undoing. I predict that people will say ‘Not Little Failure, but BIG Failure’. The writing is all over the place with thoughts all jumbled up and discordant. The author goes every direction but forward. The negativity expressed by the author is not hilarious; it is just sad and dull. I am usually a fan of this kind of memoir, but when Mr. Shteyngart ends chapters with ‘to be continued’ and ‘but that will have to wait’ and then goes in a completely different direction, you are left wondering if he will ever get back to telling what you are missing. By then, it isn’t important anymore. There were a few tender memories, but unpleasant writing made those fade away. Shteyngart didn’t write anything that dispelled the Russian or Jewish or Immigrant stereotype. Also, not sure how a statue of Lenin with his coat unfurled can be seen as sexy by a 5 year old: quite the perception for a 5 year old. I understand Russian humor is possibly different from American humor as are other countries, but I had difficulty slogging through the first 8 chapters and finally had to quit. I felt so let down since I expected ‘Touching, funny, and brilliant’. Instead I read ‘distant, unamusing and lightless’. I really do have a sense of humor, but could not find it after reading this memoir.I received this ARC from Random House.
    • 4/5
      This book is all about perspective and being haunted by things that gain a different perspective with age. Lots of comedic nuggets and profound revelations. Crafted writing.
    • 4/5
      Little Failure: A Memoir by Gary Shteyngart
      349 pages

      ★★★★

      I won this book from GoodReads nearly 2 years ago. It has taken me that long to get to it because…I’m slow. But alas, I found the time to read this memoir by author Gary Shteyngart. This memoir deals with much of his first four decades of life but focuses heavily on his relationship with his parents and his early life as an immigrant from USSR to the United States.

      I’m going to be honest. I love biographies/memoirs on anyone, including people I’ve never heard of…which was good in this case because I had no idea who Gary Shteyngart was. I hadn’t heard of his books, I hadn’t heard of the name. And luckily, that didn’t matter. I really enjoyed this memoir. The author was frank but humorous in just the right places, you can tell he doesn’t try to sugarcoat life – it just is what it is. Not all parts are extremely exciting or action-packed but then again, neither is life. I had trouble putting this book down at times…until my infant yanked it out of my hands and decided I was done for the night. Not only that, but it made me decide I should take a look at Gary Shteyngart’s books of fiction. He is a talented writer (at least from reading his memoir) and while I hear his books aren’t for everyone (what book is?), I’m curious what he has to offer. Good memoir and glad I had the chance to read it!
    • 4/5
      Heard so much about this author and this book. He is a funny and truthful person. I enjoyed maybe half of the book. Parts here and there. The funny was very funny.
    • 1/5
      This is not a book, it's only a 40 minute interview with the author. The sound quality was so bad that a lot of it was unintelligible. It's not podcast quality, it's a recording of a live session. I love this author (which is why I wanted to read his book) but this was a complete waste of a credit.
    • 4/5
      74. Little Failure: A Memoir (Audio) by Gary Shteyngart, read by Jonathan Todd Ross (2014, 12 hrs 46 mins, 368 pages in Paperback, Listened December 4-15)I hadn't been interested in Shteyngart, but this book popped up on NPR's best books of 2014 page and, when another audio book I was reading was unexpectedly and automatically returned to the library, I needed* an audio book and this was available at the library. I liked it enough that when the first book came available again, I chose to keep listening to this.The first half or maybe even 2/3's of this memoir is about Shteyngart's immigration to and assimilation with the US. His family left Russia with many other Jews in the late 1970's when Shteyngart was five. They spent about a year in different places in Europe and then immigrated the US, or the enemy as Shteyngart understood it, when he was seven. It's a rich and fascination experience of the world in Russia and then the confusion in the US. As a Jew in Russia, a large portion of Shteyngart's aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles and at least two of his great grandfathers died young, many during WWII where his mother's family, in Belorussia, was caught between Russian and German abuse. In the US his parents linked up with a very conservative Jewish community and Shteyngart found himself circumcised at age 7! And, in his cultural confusion and effort to hide his Russian identity, he told his friends at his all Jewish school that was East German. The book keeps going and Shteyngart becomes a really messed up high schooler and young adult, with severe drug and alcohol problems and self destructive neurosis. I didn't know any of this, and it's almost like a completely different book. I simply didn't see these problems coming. At one point a friend who has been his benefactor gives him a loan based on the promise that Shteyngart will get psychiatric help, and the therapy seems to have been key in Shteyngart stabilizing his life and becoming a successful author. There seems to be a lot of insight into Shteyngart's novels, but I haven't read any of them. What I found interesting was that he lived through the same era I did, and yet our experiences were so radically different. Even his cultural references were often so different from my own. Overall I found the book very good, and certainly it's great for Shteyngart fans. I'm not sure whether or not I want to read his novels.Note on the audio: Jonathan Todd Ross has a fantastic voice. But, his voice is so wholesome American, I didn't feel it was the right voice for this book.*"needed" is maybe too strong a word for really wanted
    • 5/5
      This book deserves a stellar review to equal the stellar, innovative, creative, wonderful writing and mindset of this author. My mind just doesn't curl around things the same way that Gary Shteyngart's does; no one's does. He is one unique person. I'll embellish this review later.
      _____________

      Raise your hand if you had perfect parents. Now, waggle your index finger high where we can see it if you are a perfect parent. Gary's parents weren't perfect and like all parents the world over, they were products of the society and culture in which they grew up. Most readers who take the time to savor this book fully will find snippets of their own lives here, despite the author's immigrant upbringing in two different countries. Brutal honesty defines Gary's witty, tantalizingly clear-eyed rendering of the first few decades of his life.

      When Gary writes, it doesn't matter what he's writing about. His writing and twist of phrase, the way his mind links dissimilar words and ideas together, is mesmerizing. What if, I wondered, his brain wasn't sopping wet with alcohol or choking on cannabis chemicals? Would his impressions of that part of his life be different? Would his creative expression be different, sharper?

      It's hard to imagine writing sharper than this, memories clearer than these, anguish, love, longing better relayed, and yet, Gary is matter-of-fact. He shows the resiliency of children. Sometimes my heart was still aching for him while he moved right along, particularly where a certain degree of parental abuse was involved. And yet, they loved him in the only ways they knew how.

      For all Gary endured in his life, he was a brilliant, imaginative kid, a tough kid, though he never thought so and was told everything opposite. The human spirit is an elusive and marvelous thing. The wonder of the rare times Gary knew triumph are luminous. Writing was his escape from an early age and now he is a resounding success in the writing world.

      After reading this book, wouldn't you love to meet him? Just have a tete-a-tete over a cup of coffee?

      Oh, the story? You can read about that most everywhere else. It's a memoir, not a whodunit, shootemup action. I disagree with reviewers who think one has to be a certain age to write a memoir. A twelve-year-old can write a memoir, to date. Isn't that what diaries are, loosly? No, you may have to be old to write a biography but memoirs are sections of a life -- a week, a year, 5 years or 40. The photos included in this book enriched the reading experience.

    • 4/5
      It took me way too long to finally get around to finishing this one, but I'm glad I did. In Little Failure, the reader gets to enjoy the same sort of sarcastic, dry wit that is fully in force in Super Sad True Love Story. Shteyngart tells his own story this time: childhood, family, relationships, career, neuroses... And it's a good story. As a russophile myself, I found it fascinating - both familiar and completely foreign. My interest flagged a little in just a few parts, but on the whole, the book was engaging. It is full of good moments, both hilarious and heart-wrenching, and he is able to bookend everything with a particularly meaningful personal memory tied to the Chesme Church in Leningrad.Recommended for fans of Shteyngart's other work.
    • 4/5
      Maybe it’s not a good thing that I’m a fan of Shteyngart’s books, because I was bitten by the skepticism bug in the first chapter when he described some of his post-college jobs and they sounded eerily familiar. I know, I know, he used his experiences as the foundation for some of the scenes in his novels…. but what if it’s all fiction? His humorous, flippant style rubbed me the wrong way throughout the rest of the “memoir”. Is he using humor as a defensive wall around himself, because he is revealing all his embarrassing thoughts and feelings… or is the whole story exaggerated?

      On the other hand, I am roughly the same age, and I found it fascinating that he was living such a different lifestyle in Queens while I was a spoiled suburbanite watching cable TV and playing with my Atari and Rubik’s Cubes.
    • 5/5
      Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart is a very highly recommended memoir.

      Many people only know Gary Shteyngart as a successful writer but in this humorous memoir, Little Failure, he proves he is gifted at whatever form his writing takes. Little Failure follows Shteyngart from his childhood to the present. Born Igor Shteyngar in Leningrad, at age 7 Gary immigrated to the USA with his parents in 1979. He was an asthmatic child and the struggle to handle this looms large in his early life. It was clear to him even before his mother gave him the American/Russian nickname "failurchka" or "little failure" that he was never going to live up to his parent expectations.

      What he experienced would be a steep learning curve for any non-English speaking child. He had to try to learn English and Hebrew all in a new, foreign country while simultaneously listening to his parents seemingly fight constantly. Traumatic would be an understatement. Following, always with self-deprecating humor, his struggles in school, with classmates, with women, and on and on, Little Failure offers stories and insight into how Shteyngart views his family and the world around him. He always feels he is "A Little Failure of the first order" as he struggles with the dichotomy that is his life.

      What Little Failure does best, beyond being an outstanding memoir, is show that Shteyngart is an exceptional storyteller whether the stories are fiction or nonfiction. Even if you have or haven't read Shteyngart, and/or love or dislike his writing, those who like to read memoirs are going to enjoy this one. It is certainly entertaining, but also emotional, honest, and poignant.
      It only helps establish the bond between writer and reader that the chapters open with cleverly labeled pictures from Shteyngart's life that add a personal touch.

      I'm going to have to admit that I started Super Sad True Love Story and set it aside without finishing it. After reading Little Failure I think it's time to give it another try. He noted that after he completed this memoir, he reread his three novels and was "shocked by the overlaps between fiction and reality." His memoir could give me a new insight and appreciation for his fiction.

      Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Random House via Netgalley for review purposes.
    • 4/5
      One can count on getting some laughs from Gary Shteyngart, and in the beginning you get enough of those as he traces his upbringing in Soviet Jewish family; but stick around, and you find yourself really feeling for the "Little Failure." Many memoirs are written, I think, from the author's attempt to exorcise demons, and that's certainly true for this book. But it turns out in the end that as Shteyngart finally looks the demons that have tormented him through much of his life, they really don't look that bad. Or more accurately, they assumed a disproportionate influence over his life than they deserved, scary shadows whose source of projection was merely mortal.

      Very entertaining.
    • 4/5
      You don't have to be a Russian, Jewish, immigrant, New Yorker to appreciate Gary Shteyngart's autobiography, Little Failure, but it can't hurt. Having some things in common with the author (religion, adopted city, Stuyvesant High School, working in the Financial District and browsing The Strand - now a Lot Less discount store) made me appreciate his personal story without ever having read his novels. Sharing traits (hopefully failure not being one of them) facilitates empathy and understanding, but Shteyngart's story is in some ways a universal one of becoming an adult and coming to understand oneself. His journey is more painful than most, and his skill, like David Sadaris's, is weaving that pain into golden, laugh out loud, humor.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of a Russian Jew who immigrated to this country at age 8 and is one of the more truthful insightful memoirs I've read. He views himself and his parents with a fair even handedness in an effort to understand and yet does not draw away emotionally. It is not always comfortable but is compelling.
    • 4/5
      4.5 stars. Very entertaining, and quite funny. I would have finished a lot sooner, but I got hit with several ARCs at once, plus the holidays. The writing was incredible. I just kept thinking how I wish I could write so well. It’s not cutesy or trying to be overly clever, just very natural—and so true! I am roughly the same age as the author so it was interesting reading about the pop culture of my youth as seen through the eyes of a coming-of-age immigrant. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because my interest waned a little towards the end, as I found it hard to relate to the author’s party days at Oberlin College.I have wanted to read The Russian Debutante's Handbooksince I first heard of it, and I'd picked up Absurdistan at a book sale a couple years back but have yet to read it. I will definitely be bumping those up my TBR list after reading this book!I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my review.
    • 3/5
      I had a hard time with this book. I disliked Sheyngart intensely despite how difficult his childhood and his parents were. I agreed with his friend John's harsh criticisms. I hated his ironic, self-pitying tone as he regarded himself. I'm happy John finally lent him money for psychoanalysis, but the results, the ability to look upon one's life more dispassionately, were not evident. And the writing was pedestrian.Just to give a sense of my exasperation: The whole business of the panic attacks and the Chesme church and the helicopter, foreshadowed throughout the book, I never quite got. Yes his father hit him there, but he hit him many other times. (I feel bad quibbling about this, but it just gives a sense of my frustration with this book.)And who wants to read excerpts from books people wrote as children? Tedium.
    • 2/5
      Ostensibly, "Little Failure" is about Shteyngart's complicated relationship with his parents, and how they crippled him emotionally, but basically it is just about why Gary Shteyngart is an asshole. David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs: they too were subjected to unorthodox parenting, and lived to write good books about it. Shteyngart: not so much. I ended up with sympathy for his Soviet mother and father, who tried to make a new living in the USA, only to see their son squander his opportunities on drugs and alcohol, and hide his insecurities behind douchey behaviour. I liked Shteyngarts ficion so far (Debutante and especially Absurdistan); there were just some aspects that made me queasy - I now know it's the passages where his own personality comes through.
    • 4/5
      Imagine you are born a Jew in Soviet Russia. Then imagine that you emigrate to "the enemy" in the mass exodus of Soviet Jews in the late 1970's. Imagine you are thrust into an American school and speak no English. Imagine your parents pinning all their hopes and fears on you. And then imagine that your last name is Shteyngart & figure out how that can be mangled every day of your life. Is it any wonder that the author of this alternatively hilarious and touching memoir is neurotic?Gary Shteyngart's memoirs record his journey from being a weak, asthmatic child, to wise-acre computer nerd grade school student, to troubled teenager amidst the over-achieving immigrant students at New York's premier Stuyvesant High School, to his drug-addled college years, finally emerging as a talented novelist. He's not particularly appealing, especially in his teenage and young adult years, but I never lost my sympathy for him as he tries to navigate the difficult landscape of growing up different in the United States, coming to terms with not only his, but also his parents' demons, and pursuing a career in writing.That he has succeeded is a testament to his own personal core as well as to the people around him who believed in him - even at his most obnoxious - and helped him along the way. A fascinating and entertaining read.
    • 3/5
      This was a tough read for me! The first half of the book just kind of dragged itself along. The narrator's parents are SO AWFUL to him, once we finally moved out of the narrator's childhood into his adolescence things picked up.

      The one thing that I really liked about this book was the disarming honesty in which the narrator freely portrays himself. Yes, he is a little shit growing up and continues to be well into his adulthood - there are no apologies, or more accurately the only 'apology' is the fact that the narrator came full circle and realizes he was a total shit.

      This memoir is highly recommended to anyone interested in the immigrant experience, but I wouldn't pick it up solely because you are a fan of Gary Shteyngart. (Which is why I picked it up.)
    • 3/5
      I read this because of the rave reviews. Those raves are not warranted. The book is interesting and reasonably well written, but it is not wonderful. It is more like a purge of bad memories. The ending is too drawn out ... as if the author was required to have x number of pages and had to fill in the blanks. Too bad. I had high hopes for this.
    • 4/5
      I hadn't read any of Shteyngart's novels, but have seen his howlingly funny book trailers online. This is such a rich, funny book, and anyone who enjoys reading about the immigrant experience should put this on their TBR list. His vivid writing brings his childhood in Russia to life and his stories of his parents fighting (he always feared they would divorce), his grandmother's fierce devotion to him, his striving for acceptance from his new American classmates and how that led him to a life as a writer are fascinating.I think Americans take for granted how many people want to come here to live, the sacrifices they make and how hard they work to fit in and build a good life for their families. Reading Little Failure will remind you of that.Shteyngart's book is brutally honest in quest for acceptance from his classmates, his search for love in college, and his many missteps on the road to writing success. He lays himself out there for all to see. At the end of the book, he takes his parents back to Russia, and this section of the book is very moving.Shteyngart is a brilliant writer, each sentence perfectly constructed to convey his idea. Even if you haven't read his fiction (like me), if you like the memoir genre and you like to laugh, this book is for you.
    • 2/5
      I expected this to be a funny memoir but the writing just came off depressing to me. Didn't finish it, which is really rare for me.
    • 4/5
      Shteyngart's memoir was a very pleasant surprise, funny,honest, illuminating, and set mostly in Queens, in territory familiar to me because I also grew up in Queens. After reading this one, I have to read all his novels!
    • 3/5
      Try as I might, I simply cannot get into this book. I managed to trudge through the first few chapters and I have finally decided this book is simply not for me. Life is too short and there are too many other books I will enjoy reading to spend any more time on this one. Normally, I like memoirs, but I failed to find the humor in this book.
    • 4/5
      Reading Little Failure is quite the emotional roller coaster. Two chapters in and my heart was pounding as I sank into Gary's world of asthma, confusion, extended family, Russian history, immigration woes, and chaos. I always marvel at how good writers are able to take what seems to the average person like a mundane event and craft it into something worth showing off to the masses, and Gary excels at that. If you're not one for experiencing vicarious pain, then this isn't the book for you, but if you're looking for a great understanding of the various shades that life comes in, then give Little Failure a shot.
    • 3/5
      In [Little Failure: A Memoir], the author describes his emigration from the Soviet Union to the US as a child in 1979 and his life as an immigrant in Queens, NY. The story was interesting and leads to a lot of "What if?". What if his parents had spoken English at home? What if he had attended public school rather than a private Jewish school? What if his parents had not been so frugal that they got furniture from the dump and clothed them in cheap, used "by the pound" clothes? What if he had not followed his girlfriend to college in Ohio?The author is likeable as a child, evoking sympathy for the bullying he received during his struggle to be accepted, but develops a mean steak as he grows older, in turn bullying those weaker than him, and lying almost pathologically. The good news is that although he did not meet his parents expectations he achieved the success as a novelist that he had longed for. ***I received this from the LT Member Giveaway program.
    • 4/5
      You don't have to be Russian, or Jewish, or an immigrant to appreciate Gary Shteyngart's memoir. Born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), he and his parents immigrated to New York City (Queens) when he was 7. The stories he tells of his new life, his loneliness, and the partial acceptance he gained through his humor and taking on an alternate personality will resonate with many readers. But the heart of this book is the evolving relationship with his parents--or rather his evolving perception of the relationship. His father, a would-be opera singer who ended up an Engineer, and his mother, a piano teacher, were very tough on their son, tagging him with a variety of unflattering names, including the "Little Failure" of the book's title. Nor were they too happy to see him want to become a writer instead of a lawyer, especially after he was accepted into New York City's best high school, where he spent most of his time drinking and taking drugs. Nevertheless, they supported him as he headed to college at Oberlin, a perfect place to do even more drinking and drug taking.I am inclined to believe in the essential truth of the story Shteyngart tells because he is the worst person in the book. His parents have their faults, but in the end we come to appreciate their achievement of making a successful life in America. Their son, on the other hand, in addition to the drugs and alcohol, also takes pleasure in treating other people badly, even the ones who are trying to help him. Anyone who tells so many embarrassing stories about his own behavior just has to be believed.All this makes it sound like the book is a real downer--and I haven't even told you about the fate of most of the author's Russian ancestors--but it isn't. By telling the story non-chronologically, Shteyngart apportions the gloom appropriately throughout the narrative so that it never overwhelms the keen observations and sharp, mostly self-deprecating humor that the book is filled with. I'm not sure I'd call it laugh out loud funny (that would be Jack Lemmon getting caught in the periscope in The Great Race), but it is definitely giggle under your breath funny.As perhaps one of the few readers of this memoir who hasn't read Shteyngart's fiction, this book makes me want to do so. I wonder, though, if the autobiographical parts in his novels will have the same effect after reading the true story. I am confident, however, that his work will continue to evolve, since one lesson from the events in this memoir is that Shteyngart seems to be a better person from having lived through them.So by all means dive into this fascinating, quirky, memoir. You won't regret it.
    • 4/5
      The Immigrant song…Gary Shteyngart is the author of several acclaimed novels. I have not read him but I was immediately engaged by his memoir. He was born Igor Shteyngart in Leningrad, in the late 1960s and then immigrated to New York in the late 70s. Igor was an only child and was nicknamed the “Little Failure” by his father. The boy was a lonely oddball, doted on by his Jewish mother, thrashed by his father and bullied by his classmates. The last kid to be picked for kickball. He finally finds refuge in books and writing.This is his family’s story and it is filled with wonderful anecdotes, offbeat relatives, his stoner college years and his heavy drinking, all told with a sharp wit and uncanny insight. I will now have to dig out my copy of Super Sad True Love Story.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed reading Gary's book about himself and his family's life pre and post immigration from the Ukraine. I found it to read much like his novels, which are loosely based on his life anyway, I think. As evidenced by the title, this is not supposed to be a particularly uplifting memoir, but it is written with candor and his trademark humor. Even the very serious issues are handled with some degree of sensitivity. Being an only child can be challenging. In Gary's case, it is especially so. From childhood on, he is called small son and little failure among other deprecating "endearments". Although there is much love in his family, it is often expressed in confusing and inappropriate ways. This is where he comes from, and its affect on him creates his story. I found it to be witty, yet heart wrenching at times. Twists and turns can not keep his talent from coming forth, and this memoir is really a tribute to that. He pretty much dissects his life and that of his parents, laying open hidden parts and still perpetuating that only child's desire to please. I enjoyed Little Failure immensely and would recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed his other novels or is interested in the immigrant experience. I thank the publisher, Gary, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.
    • 5/5
      The tone of this book reminded me of Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" - you laugh along with the joy, you flinch at the pain. Even if you didn't share the same experience, you shared the feeling in your own coming-of-age story.
    • 4/5
      Shteyngart is no stranger to psycho-analysis—he tells us this—and you can see this ruminant method of his thumbing-over of his own personality, examining it in different kinds of light as he wiggles it around. As he whimpers through his wounded memories, you can sense that there is some tramped-down grass on some of these reminisced pathways. It comes across as a bit of a ritualized, rote rehash. It’s like we’ve all been here before. “It takes me less than an hour after landing to find a metaphor for my entire visit,” says the Soviet-emigre writer after returning to Petersburg—excuse me, Leningrad—for the first time since his family’s egress in the late 1970s. It’s as if he’s been writing this memoir in his head since the sudden end of his delicate (asthma, senescing socialism), romanticized and brief childhood pre-America. He’s right about something: the Soviet part sure was riveting. The rest of book, while nuanced and often eliciting rueful half-smiles, is overawed by the biographical recounting of the surreality of the day-to-day Soviet tragicomedy his little nuclear family plays out when he is very little. Unfortunate black-and-white unsmiling Soviet portraits of him in “Warsaw pact Speedo”, steamed-over French doors and defective, exploding televisions. “We were all connected by failure back then,” explains Shteyngart. To elude failure in that element was exceptional, but to transcend it in America, expected.So we have a little simulacrum of seven-year-old Igor Shteyngart (the later “Gary” a grasp at middle-class American nomenclature), weakling and, already, a writer, infatuated with his hale, competent and, above all, unafraid father, all on the cusp of their emigration. The trajectory, already, defined. The volatility of a creative mind, the sensitivity of a foreign only child. Though he spends a large chunk of the book cobbling together, breaking apart, and re-piecing his identity, we already see it in its skeletal form here. Doomed is too strong a term, but predestination seems plausible."A writer or any suffering artist-to-be is just an instrument too finely set to the human condition, and this is the problem with sending an already disturbed child across not just national borders but, in the 1978, across interplanetary ones.” Young Shteyngart and his catastrophically Russian parents are thus dispatched to Queens. This feels so well-worn—naive, starry-eyed immigrants end up in gritty, bombastic, self-centered 1980s Queens—that I’d roll my eyes were it not true and were I not being a bit unfair. His parents aren’t that starry-eyed. The naive part, however, is true.Confused, unprotected, terrified, creative Igor-now-Gary is darkening classroom doorways at the Solomon Schechter School of Queens (here I am using Shteyngart’s breathless present tense, as if recounting anecdotes verbally). We see this setup, the slightly furrowed brow of the over-pummeled geek, and yet the youthful Gary we get is the actual failure.“When the toxic and outre American right-wing pundit Glenn Beck declared himself a ‘rodeo clown’ a few years back, I understood his recipe well: part clown, part bully.” And, indeed, the latter half of the memoir is overshadowed by this Dark Gary, selfish, cruel and blase. He smirks his way through Oberlin. Here’s 20-something Gary, with his smarmy post-modernist reading list and slightly trendy drug habit. He hates himself and we kind of do, too.And so it plays out somewhat predictably in this manner: My parents loved me once; they are now mostly turdy, listen to some of the horrible things they say and the provincial, small-minded political leanings they have; oh, they still love me but we’re all a “tribe of wounded narcissists.” He gets better. He knows well enough to decry his youthful decadence. He suffers mightily—no, I really do mean that—from anxiety and the true fear that no one will ever love or admire him. He is a hell of a good writer. He apologizes. He recognizes his Russianness. He loves and understands his parents again. It is sewn up. But what besides the clarion call of writing and writers and the life of writers sets Shteyngart’s memoir apart? “I write because there is nothing as joyful as writing, even when the writing is twisted and full of hate, the self-hate that makes writing not only possible but necessary.”He wrote it because, tortured and imperfect and somewhat of a genius, he had to.