Absurdistan

I had tried to read Absurdistan before we left the United States. I picked it up a few times but always got distracted. I'm glad I did, because the book is much, much funnier once you've lived in Baku for even a short period of time. The book takes its reader through a tour of the post-Soviet country of "Absurdistan," which is an oil rich state on the Caspian Sea. Many of the haunts the anti-hero, Misha Vainburg, visits are eerily familiar.

Shteyngart is a genius with words. Two of my favorite lines from the book:

"Even with the car windows up, Absurdistan smelled like the moist armpit of an orangutan."

"In Soviet days, we used to drink from love and pleasure; now we drink because we have to."

And for those who speak Russian, there are little gems hidden throughout the text, special jokes for the knowing. The President of Absuristan is a man by the name of "Debil." My Azeri co-worker has informed me this is most certainly not a polite word.

Although I loved the author's facility with the English language, I wasn't a huge fan of the book. For all of the funny tid-bits, Shteyngart takes his reader through pages of verbal diarrhea. And for those with an aversion to vulgarity, this is not the book for you. (There are multiple sex scenes that are anything but sexy.) So, to my mother-in-law whom I had briefly suggested reading this book, I rescind. This is the kind of book you feel like you should like, but at the end of the day you put it down feeling slightly repulsed and wondering, "what's the point?"

Although, maybe that's the entire aim of the book. It is, after all, Absurdistan.