Final Thoughts

During the past several weeks, I have been reading several different books. Some for fun, others because I had to. But I consistently found myself choosing to read Absurdistan. It was a perfect mixture of vulgarity, satire, social cometary and adventure. On several occasions on my plane ride to Arizona, I laughed out loud as I read and the other passengers would stare at me. It has been a very long time since I have laughed out loud at a book. I totally agree with Lars when he says Shteyngart was funny, and the humor was just part of the story. There weren't sections that were written to be 'funnier' then the rest. Absurdistan also acts as a mirror to the absurdity of Western culture. I'm not entirely certain what I'm supposed to think of Absurdistan's description Russia. The description of the 'grand old U.S.S.R' is completely over-the-top and overly nostalgic and proved to be one of my favorite parts of the book. The reader is forced to look at the oddities of American culture through a different perspective. Although I didn't have a problem with the vulgarity, I'm sure others did and with good reason. Every time Mr.s Jarret says we need to write a proposal our book for summer reading I laugh because there is no way Absurdistan could ever be a summer reading book. On multiple occasions, there is extremely graphic description of sex, which in some cases, should just be left to the readers imagination. The book also required a high level of knowledge of world affairs, especially regarding the United States and the Middle East. The best person to read Absurdistan would be an avid viewer of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. In conclusion, I loved every minute of Absurdistan. From Misha crying under his bed in his hotel in Absurdistan, eating four buckets of buffalo wings and watching porn, to his descriptions of the 'bastard Professor Shteynfarb'. I look foreword reading others books by Gary Shteyngart.