Gary Shteyngart
Granta
Dh75
Gary Shteyngart made his name anatomising - in the most bawdy, bodily sense - power relations in this global century. His breakthrough novel, Absurdistan, was a satire on the role of oil lobbyists in US military policy. His latest is ostensibly dystopian sci-fi, though its vision of America's future is really just its present turned up half a notch. The politics are a shade more authoritarian; the population is even more enthralled by gadgets and social networking sites; sexual mores are cruder and inequalities are sharper. Even fewer people are reading books.
One of the last who is is Lenny Abramov, a typical Shteyngart slob with a plum job in the life-extension industry and a much younger, harder-edged Korean girlfriend named Eunice. He attempts to humanise her. She tries to tidy him up. As their wary romance progresses, America unravels around them, ready for repossession by its creditors. Typically, Shteyngart's prose isn't humourous so much as tiresomely over-embellished. Beneath the verbal frills, though, he has a convincing story to tell.
