“ Absurdistan is not just a hilarious novel, but a record of a particular peak in the history of human folly. No one is more capable of dealing with the transition from the hell of socialism to the hell of capitalism in Eastern Europe than Shteyngart, the great-great grandson of one Nikolai Gogol and the funniest foreigner alive.”

–Aleksandar Hemon

From the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook comes the uproarious and poignant story of one very fat man and one very small country

Meet Misha Vainberg, aka Snack Daddy, a 325-pound disaster of a human being, son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia, proud holder of a degree in multicultural studies from Accidental College, USA (don’t even ask), and patriot of no country save the great City of New York. Poor Misha just wants to live in the South Bronx with his hot Latina girlfriend, but after his gangster father murders an Oklahoma businessman in Russia, all hopes of a U.S. visa are lost.

Salvation lies in the tiny, oil-rich nation of Absurdistan, where a crooked consular officer will sell Misha a Belgian passport. But after a civil war breaks out between two competing ethnic groups and a local warlord installs hapless Misha as minister of multicultural affairs, our hero soon finds himself covered in oil, fighting for his life, falling in love, and trying to figure out if a normal life is still possible in the twenty-first century.

With the enormous success of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Gary Shteyngart established himself as a central figure in today’s literary world—“one of the most talented and entertaining writers of his generation,” according to The New York Observer . In Absurdistan, he delivers an even funnier and wiser literary performance. Misha Vainberg is a hero for the new century, a glimmer of humanity in a world of dashed hopes.

From the Hardcover edition.

本书的主人公——俄裔美国大胖子米沙·凡伯格为了买一本比利时护照，以便回到纽约，没想到陷在了高加索小国荒诞斯坦，并被该国内战后掌权的大军阀任命为多元文化事务部的部长，上演了一出充满讽刺意味的奇遇记。在作者笔下，新俄罗斯的寡头政治，美国的生活方式，以及两国共有的狂妄自大和对弱小国家的欺凌都成为嘲讽的对象，本书作者是糅杂了十九世纪俄国文学、二十世纪街头热舞和二十一世纪石油政治及纷争的第一人。

施特恩加特1972年生于列宁格勒，7岁时移民美国，四年前以处女作《俄罗斯社交新丁手册》（The Russian Debutante's Handbook）大受瞩目。