Meet Misha Vainberg, aka Snack Daddy, a 325-pound disaster of a human being, son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia and proud holder of a degree in multicultural studies from Accidental College, USA. Misha is an American impounded in a Russian's body and the only place he feels at home is New York; he just wants to live in the South Bronx with his 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 (a fictional former Soviet republic), 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.

加里•施特恩加特

1972年出生于列宁格勒（现彼得堡）的一个犹太家庭，父亲是照相机工厂的工程师，母亲是钢琴家。1979年全家移民美国，定居纽约。施特恩加特在俄亥俄州的Oberlin College得到政治学学士学位，在纽约市立大学的亨特学院获得创作写作的硕士学位。曾在亨特学院教过写作，现在哥伦比亚大学和普林斯顿大学教授写作。

2003年，施特恩加特发表了第一部长篇小说《俄罗斯社交新丁手册》。该小说受到评论界的广泛好评，进入《纽约时报》的畅销书榜。《荒谬斯坦》原著发表于2006年，是作者的第二部长篇小说。