Super+Sad+True+Love+Story+by+Gary+Shteyngart

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= **Book Summary** =

Shteyngart ( //Absurdistan //) presents another profane and dizzying satire, a dystopic vision of the future as convincing—and, in its way, as frightening—as Cormac McCarthy's //The Road //. It's also a pointedly old-fashioned May-December love story, complete with references to Chekhov and Tolstoy. Mired in protracted adolescence, middle-aged Lenny Abramov is obsessed with living forever (he works for an Indefinite Life Extension company), his books (an anachronism of this indeterminate future), and Eunice Park, a 20-something Korean-American. Eunice, though reluctant and often cruel, finds in Lenny a loving but needy fellow soul and a refuge from her overbearing immigrant parents. Narrating in alternate chapters—Lenny through old-fashioned diary entries, Eunice through her online correspondence—the pair reveal a funhouse-mirror version of contemporary America: terminally indebted to China, controlled by the singular Bipartisan Party (Big Brother as played by a cartoon otter in a cowboy hat), and consumed by the superficial. Shteyngart's earnestly struggling characters—along with a flurry of running gags—keep the nightmare tour of tomorrow grounded. 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. //(Aug.) // Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

= **About the Author** = Gary Shteyngart was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the United States seven years later. His debut novel, The Russian Debutante's Handbook, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His second novel, Absurdistan, was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, as well as a best book of the year by Time, The Washington Post Book World, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, and many other publications. He has been selected as one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, and Travel + Leisure and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He lives in New York City.

= **Discussion Questions** = 1. What elements of Shteyngart’s dystopian near-future do you see in our contemporary world?

2. In that same vein, do you feel that we really are in, or are headed for, a post-literate age? Have a media-saturated environment and short attention spans affected our ability to read and appreciate books?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">3. Lenny and Eunice come from two opposing cultures and have different ethnic backgrounds. While he is a ruminative book reader, hers is the generation of the instant and fleeting. For all their differences, why do you think Lenny and Eunice are drawn together? What do they share in common in terms of their personal history?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">4. After a trip home to Long Island, Lenny contemplates an existence that is “at the end of the busted rainbow, at the end of the day, at the end of the empire.” What does he mean by this? Do you feel that we are at the end of an era?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">5.Lenny’s employer, Post Human Services, offers the promise of life extension for High Net Worth individuals. How do you think losing the assurance of death, a great equalizer, would affect the dynamic of society? If you had the option, would you seek out immortality?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">6. //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Super Sad True Love Story //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> is an epistolary novel—one written as a series of documents. Discuss the how Shteyngart’s use of diary entries and digital exchanges impacted your reading experience.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">7. One target of Shteyngart’s satire is the value placed on youthfulness. Discuss how this preoccupation manifests itself in the novel—consider Eunice’s relationship with Lenny and Joshie, The Post Human Services, and representations of the elderly.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">8. Lenny has been described as a twentieth century man in a twenty-first century world. How, specifically, is he anachronistic to the “new” New York?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">9. Shteyngart includes elements of science fiction, romance, and dystopian fantasy. How do you think each of these genres manifests itself in the novel? Why is each important?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">10. //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Super Sad True Love Story //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">treads into dark territory—mortality, heartbreak, the demise of a culture—yet, as a satire, it relies heavily on humor for its social criticism. In your opinion, how important is humor in evaluating and responding to the world in which we live?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">11. Though //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Super Sad True Love Story //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> is set in the (very near) future, there is a strong immigrant presence that also harkens back to the American past. Discuss the portrayal and significance of immigrants in the novel.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">12. In the //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Super Sad //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">universe, there is no such thing as a private detail. In our world, what do you feel are the benefits and pitfalls of social media? Where should we draw the line in terms of what we broadcast about our personal lives? <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">( //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Questions issued by publisher //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">.)

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