---
product_id: 8649787
title: "Absurdistan: A Novel Paperback – April 3, 2007"
brand: "gary shteyngart"
price: "¥4615"
currency: JPY
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.jp/products/8649787-absurdistan-a-novel-paperback-april-3-2007
store_origin: JP
region: Japan
---

# Absurdistan: A Novel Paperback – April 3, 2007

**Brand:** gary shteyngart
**Price:** ¥4615
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Absurdistan: A Novel Paperback – April 3, 2007 by gary shteyngart
- **How much does it cost?** ¥4615 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.jp](https://www.desertcart.jp/products/8649787-absurdistan-a-novel-paperback-april-3-2007)

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Witty and Clever - Great if you like that sort of thing
  

*by B***D on Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014*

ABSURDISTAN is an entertaining novel - a witty and clever evisceration of the modern world-at-large, grubbily clawing its way out of the Cold War and scrambling for petro-dollars.  It is funny and uncomfortable, a snapshot on the eve of Sept. 11 which leaves no stone unturned while looking for an overwrought subject to puncture; not American war-profiteering, not the Institution of the Holocaust, not even Gary Shteyngart himself.  But as well as cynically rubbing our noses in the dirty secrets of globalism and multiculturalism, ABSURDISTAN also questions what a person of honesty, integrity and ability can do about it.  It also questions what can be done by a man who has none of those things - nothing except the naïve belief that one person can make a difference.So we follow Misha Vainberg, 325 lb adolescent in a man's body, as he stumbles from one crisis to the next  in his frustrated attempt to reach the holy grail of both America and his lost love, Rouenna, a girl he met and fell in love with during a brief stint as a student in New York.  Stuck in his native Russia after being denied a return visa to the U.S, he travels to neighboring Absurdistan to buy a forged Belgium passport, hoping to eventually sidestep the INS.  Unfortunately, this short detour turns indefinite when civil war breaks out - a civil war engineered to bring USAID dollars and to turn a tidy profit for civilian contractor Halliburton.Idealists may be offended by Mr. Shteyngart's cynicism, cynics may feel as though he's preaching to the choir.  Nevertheless, his autopsy of the modern world is thorough, entertaining and disturbing.  Like Heller before him, there's a feeling that he's placed his finger directly where the pulse used to be, but that, despite piling absurdity on absurdity, one feels he's only shown you the tip of the entire preposterous iceberg.So - entertaining, yes.  Funny and clever and witty - and if one only reads novels to be entertained, then I highly recommend ABSURDISTAN.  But somehow I feel as though it's all rather empty in the end.  Vainberg's life seems empty.  It isn't so much that he's tossed about from one storm to another - everyone suffers from that to some degree, just as we all suffer from a incomplete understanding of our surroundings and an inability to act in our own best interest at times.  It's that there's nothing more to the world of Vainberg than Vainberg - which could very well be the author's point.  It could be that the intention was to purposely create this self-absorbed character in order to point it out for us, yet it doesn't feel that way.  Rather, I feel led to believe that Vainberg is the modern day hero, that his final thrust toward personal fulfillment is the only true quest that is open to humanity anymore.  A Don Quixote to whom knight-errantry is a sucker's game and chivalry is less effective than pornography.Or maybe that isn't what the author is saying at all.  Or perhaps it is, and he's right.  Seems depressing to me to think so.  If I have to read an absurdist, I'd just as well stick with one in the vein of Camus - one who can make the Sisyphean task in front of us seem ennobling rather than just another punch line in a long, clever joke.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Putin On The Ritz
  

*by M***E on Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2007*

Shteyngart's "Absurdistan" is a beautifully written piece of self-conscious satire.  The central character -- a wealthy, overweight Russian ideologue named Misha -- is trying to get back to America, but INS won't issue him a visa because his dad once murdered an Oklahoman businessman (as if Oklahoma is running out of those).  Occasionally, Misha spouts out neutered rap lyrics or tries to use his money to assist those less fortunate (he does both things with equal measures of success).  The novel doesn't really take off until he boards a flight to the country of Absurdistan in an attempt to secure a Beligan passport.  It turns out that Absurdistan is suffering from a civil unrest caused by two opposed religious factions (which are more alike than they aren't), as well as the country's off-shore oil rigs and an unapologetic American military presence.It's not hard to figure out what Shteyngart's getting at, especially since so many people have gotten at it with far fewer words.  This is the first time, though, I've seen the subject approached with such floozy seriousness.  Shteyngart's writing skills are gorgeous and his sense of humor touching, but his pace is uneven and his tone is fractured.  The book is nutty and deeply human in equal amounts, and the two elements are not well-stirred.  Be prepared to laugh at the ludicrous looniness of it all, and then be prepared for scenes of quite disturbing brutality.By trying to make his book's purpose all the more pointed, Shteyngart shaves off the blunt edges that make it easier to swallow.  And Misha, our anti-hero, is the kind of person you hope to see grow into something eventually likeable, but who changes about as much as a rifle scope.  For someone with such a powerful command of the English language, Shteyngart seems to have little confidence in himself or his characters.  He even includes, for Misha, a sort of nemesis in love, a Russain novelist called Jerry Shteynfarb who comes across as a smarmy, horny hack.  How unfortunate that the same words could accurately describe Misha?Even if the book's poignance often cripples it, it also provides it some saving grace, as the book's final lines are testament to.  Even if they are a tad on the nose, they do offer a counter-point to the book's hilariously depressing (depressingly hilarious) other half.  There's a point where you realize that the only reason you're laughing at the story is because you know just how true it is.  That in itself is something worth lauding.  Here's to the hope that someday we'll live in a world where books like "Absurdistan" are funny because of how little they represent reality, and not vice versa.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Wants to be the great comic novel
  

*by R***B on Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2010*

This is a novel that is so incredibly fraught with potential to be the great comic novel of out time. I would go so far as to put it in the realm of Heller's Catch-22.IF.IF the book had been edited, I would say this. I don't blame Shteyngart. He writes some seriously hilarious stuff in here, even going so far as to posit the masterminds behind the Iraq war. (Who ever thought they'd read a comic novel featuring Halliburton?!) A good editor would have smoothed out Shteyngart's witticisms or, at the least, directed them in a different style. What should have been an overarching comedic theme winds up being a set of disjointed one-liners that are, at best, as another reviewer put it "Self-deprecating." Perhaps another way to express my distaste (though it may work for you) is to say that parts of this book made me feel like I was reading a script for a sequel to "Borat." With a decent edit, I would have easily placed this in the 5-star realm and added it to my own personal canon of great humorous literature.Does that mean I would not recommend this novel? Hell no! It is truly awesome, and the work of a writer I'm sure we will be hearing much more of in the future. Shteyngart is a master of voice and character. No one is saved from the sweet cruelty of his pen. Our protagonist is a big fat jerk, but he's a lovable Train-Wreck of a big fat jerk, and one that we somehow pull for in the end. Not since O'Toole's Ignatius J. Reilly have we seen this class of unlikely protagonist.All that said, is this a book for everyone? No. I can see where many people would not understand the humor. A reader who has an understanding of world events and geography will certainly benefit from that knowledge in regard to this novel.I have spoken.

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*Product available on Desertcart Japan*
*Store origin: JP*
*Last updated: 2026-02-24*