Super Sad True Love Story

A Novel

By: Gary Shteyngart

Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Adam Grupper

Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, creates a compelling reality in this tale about an illiterate America in the not-too-distant future. Lenny Abramov may just be penning the world’s last diary. Which is good, because while falling in love with a rather unpleasant woman and witnessing the fall of a great empire, Lenny has a lot to write about.

©2010 Gary Shteyngart (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Shteyngart's earnestly struggling characters—along with a flurry of running gags—keep the nightmare tour of tomorrow grounded. A rich commentary on the obsessions and catastrophes of the information age and a heartbreaker worthy of its title, this is Shteyngart's best yet." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Full-tilt and fulminating satirist Shteyngart is mordant, gleeful, and embracive as he funnels today's follies and atrocities into a devilishly hilarious, soul-shriveling, and all-too plausible vision of a ruthless and crass digital dystopia in which techno-addled humans are still humbled by love and death." ( Booklist)

“It’s not easy to summarize Shteyngart; there’s so much satirical gunpowder packed into every sentence that the effect gets lost in the short version. But basically, this is a love story [that is] ridiculously witty and painfully prescient, but more than either of those, it’s romantic." ( Time)

Great performance, annoying story

I really liked the way this novel started. It was interesting and original. When the "love story" started, I found myself losing interest. The main character becomes unlikable as he gets involved with an extremely unpleasant girl. I was not worried particularly about any of their fates and kind of wanted to get it over with. I was also annoyed by the way the author rhapsodizes about Eunice's thinness for pages and pages, but then makes fun of the way women are obsessed with weight. There were a lot of genuinely funny parts, though, and I thought the performers were really exceptional, as well.

Grew on me

I came back to this and gave it an extra star because I thought about it so much after listening. As I was listening, I was bothered by a lot of little things that I thought took away from the believable-ness of future created. In retrospect, that shouldn't matter. It is a good story with a lot of keen insight.

entertaining and really opens your eyes

Although the book is set in a dystopian near future, most of what it describes is just a satire of what we're currently living and experiencing as a society. That's what makes it super sad but true.


It's nicely read, and since the prose is very colloquial and always in first person, you can listen to it pretty easily without too much concentration.

highly recommend it.

Great book, but leaves you where it found you

World building was great but the book ended too soon. You can feel the intense background that everything in this book has but the story gets cut off leaving you feeling like you missed something.

The narrators are fabulous. They modulate their voices respectfully and accurately for the characters they are speaking as and mimic each other in a way that gives each an extra layer of insight into the characters minds.

Minor story arc 'spoiler' It ends on a down note. There's no happy Hollywood ending and while I certainly don't mind depressing stories it's good to know. Though the title should give that away.

Funny, vulgar, tragic and frightening!

The vulgarity takes some getting past....and I am not a shrinking violet, but it is part of the point of the story. A near-future dystopian New York (as opposed to the current dystopian New York) focuses on the blossoming romance of a culturally, age mismatched couple - Eunice and Lenny. It’s worth the read. The story stays with you - especially in the time of. Trump administration. Hard to see how we are not heading for this future....

Great listen

Interesting premise and style that kept my attention and made me think about where things are going in our world. The performance made the book even better - it was excellent

Depressingly close to reality!

This is a unique and well written in narrated book. He chronicles the rise of consumerism, obsession with social media, and youth culture in a satirical fashion. It was written in 2010, but seems to foretell a dark future for America. This is the third time I’ve listen to it and each time I see more and more parallels to what’s actually happening in America today. It’s also a very entertaining and funny read too, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that the subject matter is hitting a little close to home these days.

Maybe if you liked "Infinite Jest"

I plowed through 35 minutes of this then gave up. The main character is a well-educated, middle-aged New York Jewish man who is going bald. All that happens is he talks to his smartphone and it misunderstands what he says. It's supposed to be funny but not the kind of funny where you laugh.

Disappointed

No amount of creativity could get me past the gross misogyny in this novel. I can't recommend it to anyone.

Is there a more boring story?

I enjoy plot driven novels; I enjoy character driven novels...This one was neither. The best thing I can say is to mention why I never thought reading someone else's journal or diary would hold an interest for me: like most people, these characters are insanely ordinary and boring! I bought it for the premise, but unlike some other reviewers ("Our 1984," really?) it was at best, mocking. And as for characters I've found the teenagers in my neighborhood more interesting.