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The Russian Debutante's Handbook
 
 
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The Russian Debutante's Handbook (Paperback)

by Gary Shteyngart (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (19 May 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747561028
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747561026
  • Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 831,848 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Publishing News
"Much of the humour is reminiscent of the young Amis … Hilarious and highly recommended."

Daily Telegraph
A brilliantly funny series of escapades... Witty, inventive and fast-moving... a triumph

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The Russian Debutante's Handbook
83% buy the item featured on this page:
The Russian Debutante's Handbook 4.0 out of 5 stars (5)
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Love at first sight, 30 Aug 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Russian Debutante's Handbook
I fell in love from the start: wry, wicked wit combined with a gift for effortless description made this novel a joy to read.This is a satire with a cruel, self-obsessed character called Vladimir Girshkin in pursuit of sex and riches whose quest takes him from a keenly observed New York across the Atlantic to a mythical eastern European land full of the youthful detritus of the West and moribund relics of the Soviet era.The prose is refreshing and ebullient, infused with a rich, panoramic intelligence that can swoop on the minutest detail to make a telling point about American excesses and foibles. I was often left reeling in admiration. At times the oblique, knowing authorial intrusions are reminiscent of Nabokov, but this is neither pastiche nor imitation. The cruelty of the wit harks back to writers like Saltykov-Shchedrin or more recently Bulgakov so Shteyngart is in impressive company. Above all it is funny without compromising its serious intent.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good characters and humor, plot that bogs down in the end, 12 Nov 2006
This review is from: The Russian Debutante's Handbook (Paperback)
The characterization of Vladimir Girshkin is excellent, from how he looks and dresses (which morphs through the book), to how he thinks about himself, his family, his ethniticity, to how he perceives the other Russians and Americans around him. Many humoristic moments as Vladimir, in an effort to get himself out of a dead-end life, gets in with deeper and crazier schemes to extract money and respect from different criminal elements, all the while building (or rebuilding?) the ego inside the man. The characterization, as a trip of self-discovery, is very well written.

But I did find myself forcing to finish. I did end up caring about the characters, esp. Vladimir and Morgan in the end, so I pushed on wanting to see what happened to them. But the plot bogged down, taking turns that made the humourously ludicrous ones in the beginning of the story seem normal. You have to suspend your reality checks for a novel like this, but it just got harder to do toward the end. The clever literary references and play on words at the later half of the novel didn't make me chuckle or think as much as the ones in the beginning.

I will read Mr. Shtenyngart's next novel with anticipation. Writing any novel is hard work, and I'm glad Gary pressed on with number 2.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, 13 Jul 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: The Russian Debutante's Handbook (Paperback)
This is a very funny, original, totally deranged novel which can't easily be summed up except to say it's very funny and reminded me of John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces. It's a great satire on what happens when leftist politics are replaced by capitalism, and a great satire on the stupidity of well-heeled students.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Cheap laughs made up for by real hilarity
"I like this novel because..." This is a real "twentysomething" novel, a bit of a guilty pleasure and the sort of book I pretentiously thought I should have stopped reading by now... Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2003 by zenworks

3.0 out of 5 stars Cheap laughs made up for by real hilarity.
"I like this novel because..." This is a real "twentysomething" novel, a bit of a guilty pleasure and the sort of book I pretentiously thought I should have stopped reading by now... Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2003 by zenworks

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