The Nature of Things

I know people who say they can't abide reading books that don't have characters that they can empathize or identify with. It's easy to understand that instinctual need to feel good about the characters that populate the book one has committed to reading. But I would argue that sometimes there is much to be learned from reading about unsympathetic characters; characters who, not to put too fine a point on it, are complete and total jerks. Barry Cohen is such a character. Barry is everyone's stereotype of the narcissistic Wall Street hedge fund manager, who lives in his own self-deluded fantasy world and persuades others to trust him with their money and then loses it while amassing his own personal fortune. Investigated by the SEC, he skates free by paying a large fine but never spends any time in jail and never gets banned from further trading and so he continues to do the same thing over and over again. Sound like a story you might have heard in the news? There is, of ...

It was only a coincidence that I happened to be reading this book during this week of the election. Or was it? Perhaps it was kismet. Fated to be. Gary Shteyngart's latest novel, Super Sad True Love Story , is a dystopian novel set somewhere in the near future in America when society is falling apart and the Chinese are just about to foreclose. This is a society that is obsessed with the individual's credit ratings and with what the chemical analysis of the blood shows about one's health condition and long-term prospects. It's a society where extending life - it is hoped to eternity - is a worthy and sought-after goal. It is a society divided into HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals) and LNWIs (Low Net Worth Individuals) and you don't want to be an LNWI. The main activity of the HNWIs is shopping. The main activity of LNWIs is trying to find what they need to stay alive. In this world, the United States is at war with Venezuela and there are National Guard checkpoints...