Book Review: Our Country Friends

(Bought at the Strand Bookstore for $10) I really enjoyed Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story. This one, not as much. I didn't really care about any of the characters or what became of them. They struck me as privileged and clueless. I realize that was probably Shteyngart's point, but it made reading most of the novel a real slog.

The premise is a classic one: a group of diverse characters are confined to a relatively small space. Their interests and personalities collide. Learning ensues. Russian-American novelist Sasha (a stand-in for the author) invites a group of friends to his country home during the COVID pandemic. Included are a cross-section of 2020 American elite: a movie star who is so famous we don't even learn his name; an essayist whose best-selling work describes her rural Southern background; an app developer who made millions with a dating app; a failed novelist with health issues; and--I'm not sure what Ed was, a chef? We also have the Russian writer's wife, a therapist and his troubled adopted daughter. 

Shteyngart is a marvelous writer, the descriptions, metaphors, smilies and observations on the current world scene are trenchant and precise. I just had a hard time identifying with these people. The plot hinged on the use of the dating app which I didn't quite understand and this story arc strained credulity.