The Russian Debutante’s Handbook

By: Gary Shteyngart

Narrated by: Adam Grupper

Best-selling author Gary Shteyngart’s exquisite fiction is met with a level of critical acclaim reserved for the very best in the field. In this startlingly provocative work, Russian immigrant Vladimir Girshkin searches for love and self-identity while interacting with a quirky set of acquaintances.

©2002 Gary Shteyngart (P)2012 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Rowdy, ribald, funny...this superb debut [is] the real thing." ( Esquire)

"As attuned to the exhilarating possibilities of the language as Martin Amis, as deadpan and funny as the young Evelyn Waugh." (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

"In Vladimir Girshkin, the wisecracking, lovelorn, desperately self-reinventing protagonist, Shteyngart has given us a literary symbol for this new immigrant age, much as Saul Bellow or Henry Roth did in theirs..." (Chris Lehmann, The Washington Post)

Very Funny and right on

This is a very funny novel with a nebish hero of the first order descended from an archetypal Eastern European Jewish family of survivors. Escape!

Brilliant

Hilarious, smart, and spot on about the nuances of Soviet and immigrant culture, as well as America.

Wit. Intellectuality. Believability. Choreography. Incredible reading performance.

I loved the language. Self-mocking intellectuality. Believability. Descriptiveness: just the right amount. Recognizable human types, but not overly cartoonish or inane. Visual choreography. Author’s ability to make you care about, and identify with, an utterly un-lovable protagonist. Incredible reading performance. So, so good.

Don't Let the Title Fool You

Attention fans of the bodice ripper -- this is NOT historical fiction. If you are looking for petticoats and princes this is not for you. It's also NOT a romance, although there is a lot of sex.

I know it's very stylish to adore this genre of fiction, gritty and surreal. I found the main character in turns boring and annoying. Clearly many people are quite enthralled with this author - who am I to quibble?

Still I would like a book to educate me, challenge me or entertain me. Like a good Russian novel, this one mostly depressed me.

Despite all that, there is much craft here; well-writen and very nicely performed by Adam Grupper. Before you buy, just know -- it's for an acquired kind of taste.

Hilarious and insightful.

A very funny story, with great reading by the narrator. Insightful into a culture that I am not a part of.