Anyone who's traveled in Eastern Europe will recognize the territory staked out by Gary Shteyngart in Absurdistan (New York: Random House, 2006).
The Russian-born novelist's prose is as thick and heavy as his protagonist, Mischa Vainberg. His descriptions of the post-communist but pre-capitalist world of a former Soviet satellite state on the Caspian Sea is achingly familiar if you've been there: the island of privilege enjoyed by foreigners in a western-branded hotel, the ease that unlimited funds provides individuals, the sheer rapaciousness of traditional oligarchs negotiating with predatory companies expecting to operate on "cost plus" contracts, the delicate dance between preserving traditional culture (and enmities) as an American music dominated western ethos captures one young adult after another.
If you've ever heard the symphony of car alarms in St. Petersburg or watched uniformed cops shake down motorists for $2 bribes in Yerevan, you've already visited Absurdistan.
If not, pick up a copy and Gary Shteyngart will take you there.
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