How to start: I sometimes plod through a book, but that was not the case with this one, speeding through in barely two weeks. Francine Prose notes the novel’s “energy and hilarity.” The New York Times qualifies it as “uproarious and highly entertaining.” And perhaps knowing neither of these things was what made the book such a quick read.
Favourite quotes: “He looked down the tracks where Cohen was on his knees taking a picture of a passing cloud, an unremarkable cirrus shaped as if it were sketched expressly for a meteorology textbook, its immortality assured only through the wild Polish luck of having passed the former concentration camp on the day of Cohen’s visit.” (p. 405-6)
[This one of a car-chase sequence:]
“The thin Trabant squeezed past a trailer truck in front of them bearing the logo of a Swedish modular funiture company.
”Shell-shocked, Vladimir crawled back up to look through the nonexistent window behind him. The Swedish furniture trick now separated their car from the Groundhog’s shooting party like some kind of ad hoc U.N. reaction force. But the Hog’s men apparently had no respect for Swedish furniture. With a single-mindedness common only to former Soviet interior-ministry troops and first-year law students, they continued to shoot as the truck swerved madly to stay on the road. Finally, their labor produced results - with an audible whoosh, the back doors of the truck blew away.
”A houseful of Krovnik dining tables in assorted colours, Skanör solid-beech glass-door cabinets, Arkitekt retractable work lamps (with adjustable heads), and the daddy of them all - a Grinda three-piece sofa ensemble in ‘modern paisley,’ came sailing out of the back of the truck and onto the flotilla of BMWs to settle once and for all the Russo-Swedish War of 1709.” (p. 444)
Tangential: This is Shteyngart’s debut novel, published in 2002. What’s fun about that is that it makes him a contemporary, instead of a long-dead novelist like most of the ones on this list. He’s since published more novels, obviously, and someone’s collected his blurbs on Tumblr. Oh look! He’s just received his Covid shot!