At the next Book Group meeting on Zoom, we’ll discuss The Russian Debutante’s Handbook by Gary Shteyngart.

The Russian Debutante’s Handbook introduces Vladimir Girshkin, one of the most original and unlikely heroes of recent times. The twenty-five year-old unhappy lover to a fat dungeon mistress, affectionately nicknamed “Little Failure” by his high-achieving mother, Vladimir toils his days away as a lowly clerk at the bureaucratic Emma Lazarus Immigrant Absorption Society. When a wealthy but psychotic old Russian war hero appears, Vladimir embarks on an adventure of unrelenting lunacy that takes us from New York’s Lower East Side to the hip frontier wilderness of Prava–the Eastern European Paris of the nineties. With the help of a murderous but fun-loving Russian mafioso, Vladimir infiltrates the Prava expat community and launches a scheme as ridiculous as it is brilliant.

Bursting with wit, humor, and rare insight, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook is both a highly imaginative romp and a serious exploration of what it means to be an immigrant in America.

I’ll be leading this discussion, and I guarantee some people will be appalled by the protagonist’s behavior. I’m looking forward to a very lively evening.

For the Zoom link, or to get on the Book Group mailing list, contact me at janicesteinberg@cox.net.