Super Sad True Love Story
Gary Shteyngart, hilarious and critically acclaimed author of Absurdistan, is back with a new, equally biting satire. Super Sad True Love Story takes place in a not-so-distant dystopian future, where the 39-year-old protagonist, Lenny, is hopelessly over the hill, and his 20-something love interest, Eunice, doesn’t have a meaningful thought in her tech-crazed head. Ron Charles of the Washington Post describes the setting as “a post-literate, consumption-crazed America that abhors books, newspapers and even conversation.” The story is told through Lenny’s diary and Eunice’s online chats, a structure that works better for some critics than others. While Lenny is acknowledged as a well-rounded satiric hero, some critics find Eunice dull and her sections less poignant. Still, the consensus says that Super Sad True Love Story is super sad, super hilarious, and scarily accurate.
“Shteyngart’s most trenchant satire depicts the inane, hyper-sexualized culture that connects everybody even while destroying any actual community or intimacy. This may be the only time I’ve wanted to stand up on the subway and read passages of a book out loud.” – Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“A rich commentary on the obsessions and catastrophes of the information age and a heartbreaker worthy of its title, this is Shteyngart’s best yet.” – Publishers Weekly
“The Eunice sections aside, it is on the whole both frightening and devastatingly funny.” – Troy Jollimore, Los Angeles Times
“In recounting the story of Lenny and Eunice in his antic, supercaffeinated prose, Mr. Shteyngart gives us his most powerful and heartfelt novel yet — a novel that performs the delightful feat of mashing up an apocalyptic satire with a genuine supersad true love story.” – Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
“The novelist knows how to get well-earned, knowing laughs, but it’s the deeply sad, though not quite despairing, tone that makes this such a remarkable and unexpected novel.” – Michael Schaub, NPR
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