Gary Shteyngart
Gary Shteyngart
Gary Shteyngartis an American writer born in Leningrad, USSR. Much of his work is satirical...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth5 July 1972
CountryUnited States of America
want entertainment fiction
I just want fiction to remain a vital force for entertainment and not just for contemplation. Both things can exist.
growing-up america russia
I was very, very sick when I was growing up in Russia. The ambulance constantly came to our house. I had horrible asthma that is easily treated in America, but they didn't even have inhalers back in Russia.
america russia unions
In a strange way, I expected Russia to become more like America since the Soviet Union collapsed, but the reverse is true. America has become more like Russia: a kleptocratic society.
writing breathe immigrants
Asthmatic immigrant learns to breathe by writing.
thinking ideas empathy
Silence has been destroyed, but also the idea that it's important to learn how another person thinks, to enter the mind of another person. The whole idea of empathy is gone. We are now part of this giant machine where every second we have to take out a device and contribute our thoughts and opinions.
fiction world ends
That's what I always liked about science fiction - you can make the world end. Humour is my multiple warhead delivery system.
want world hungry
I am born hungry. Ravenous. I want to eat the world, and I can never be satiated.
book artist firsts
My first book really did change my life. It allowed me to fully express myself. There was a sense that I was worth something as an artist.
tyrants attention mercy
That's what tyrants do, I guess. They make you covet their attention; they make you confuse attention for mercy.
important nostalgia remember
Remember this... develop a sense of nostalgia for something, or you'll never figure out what's important.
sweet powerful home
I wish I were stronger and more secure in myself so that I could really spend my life with a guy like Lenny. Because he has a different kind of strength than Joshie. He has the strength of his sweet tuna arms. He has the strength of putting his nose in my hair and calling it home. He has the strength to cry when I go down on him. Who IS Lenny? Who DOES that? Who will ever open up to me like that again? No one. Because it's too dangerous. Lenny is a dangerous man. Joshie is more powerful, but Lenny is much more dangerous.
dating guy firsts
Before my first novel, I was dating a woman who later went to prison for bashing a guy with a hammer.
lying heart difficult-work
Do not throw away your heart. Keep your heart. Your heart is all that matters ... Throw away your ancestors! ... Throw away your shyness and the anger that lies just a few inches beneath ... Accept the truth! And if there is more than one truth, then learn to do the difficult work -- learn to choose. You are good enough, you are HUMAN ENOUGH, to choose!
falling-in-love book mean
... I'm the fortieth-ugliest man in this bar. But so what! So what! What if someday she lets me kiss each one of her freckles again? She has like a million. But every one of them means something to me. Isn't this how people used to fall in love? I know we're living in Rubenstein's America, like you keep saying. But doesn't that just make us even more responsible for each other's fates? I mean, what if Eunice and I just said no to all this. To this bar. To this FACing. The two of us. What if we just went home and read books to each other?