Absurdistan - Gary Shteyngart

Absurdistan naturally draws comparisons to two satirical masterpieces, A Confederacy of Dunces and Catch-22, as it is the story of a massively obese young rich man caught amidst the international insanity of corporate globalization and war. But lined up against those two works, it simply cannot compare. It is, at times, a highly descriptive, lively, and amusing novel, but not much more - after all, what could a modern novel about the absurdity of war and the military-industrial complex possibly add to what was given to us by Joseph Heller back in 1961? As if aware of this, Shteyngart relies too heavily on the details of today's world theater - oil, the Soviet bloc, hip-hop, McDonald's, Halliburton - as if to gain validity, but its use of all-too familiar, already stigmatized names only limit its power. It seems to be a criticism of specific companies rather than of the underlying system that allows for their operation. His parodies are so obvious that they may make one think they are in on something without actually having to think, and its mockery of American culture is too easy - the protagonist, a mammoth Russian brat, enjoys quoting the Notorious BIG, as if the late rapper wasn't ridiculous enough on his own. Whereas the mysterious Syndicate and painful circular logic of Catch-22 boost that novel to the timeless universal, Absurdistan remains no more than a sometimes entertaining, but mostly annoying, comment on the current age.

Um?
2 out of 5
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