Shteyngart knows that families are about nothing if not ambivalence. How can both be true? Because they are, and I really felt the pull of contradictions in this memoir. When Gary gets to the top - bang, the father knocks him down, a fact that goes forgotten for a very, very long time.Īnd yet Gary describes his father as his best friend. His mother's brand of parenting involves "loving" put-downs - she dubs him "Failurchka" - which means, roughly, "little failure" and his father's involves inducing this son to climb to the top of the wooden ladder he's installed in a part of the living room called the Athletic Corner, in order to bulk up little Gary's strength and end his fear of heights. Yet, as an only child who immigrated from Leningrad to Queens with his parents in 1979, with no brothers or sisters to provide narrative distraction, he not only provides an intimate look at himself, he also by necessity put his parents under a fairly strong magnifying lens. Gary Shteyngart's dazzling, highly enjoyable book is the story of his life - a story that he owns, along with all the details. What's potentially more troubling than a memoirist out for revenge? One who's only out for truth. Meg Wolitzer's most recent novel is The Interestings. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Little Failure Subtitle A Memoir Author Gary Shteyngart
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |