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
children drinking thinking
You can't have a Russian household without vodka. It's just something to wash everything down with. I can't remember a time when I didn't drink vodka, either in Russia or here. I don't think there's ever a wrong time to start drinking it. My ancestors drank it, and if I ever have any children, they'll be drinking it.
growing-up thinking mortality
I always think that good writers should be growing up on the brink of death - it really lets them see mortality very clearly.
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.
real book thinking
I read real books. On paper. You know, those printed books? I feel like this is the last thing I do to support my industry. I think they smell great, too.
fall mean thinking
My hair would continue to gray, and then one day, it would fall out entirely, and then, on a day meaninglessly close to the present one, meaninglessly like the present one, I would disappear from the earth. And all these emotions, all these yearnings, all these data, if that helps to clinch the enormity of what I'm talking about, would be gone. And that's what immortality means. It means selfishness. My generations belief that each one of us matters more than you or anyone else would think.
life thinking wonder
If you stop thinking, if you stop wondering, you die.
relationship
I have a love/hate relationship with just about everything, but certainly with America.
acting class great indie louise love movies took wife woody
I took an acting class with Louise Lasser, Woody Allen's first wife and co-star in many movies. I've done some other indie films, if you look on the YouTube. I love acting - it's great.
act century club love members minor russian
I'd love to have a 19th Century Russian book club where all the members had to act like the pretentious minor noblemen they were reading about.
people poetry
I think what will happen is that fiction will become more like poetry. As in, the only people who read it will write it.
couple decline feisty love natural
I love things on the decline because that's really the natural progression of our lives. We're born, we're feisty for the first couple of years, and then the inevitable decline begins.
james performing sending writes
In America, everyone writes but no one reads. Everyone's writing all day long - sending emails, tweets, text messages; they all think they're James Cameron's Avatar, performing in some video game for which they make up the script.
cannot doubt humor readers work
Without humor, I cannot go on and I doubt many of my readers would go on either. Humor is so important. I am here to have fun here with my work.
bottom civilization nose pool takes taking
When civilization takes a nose dive, how can you look away? You've got to be there. You've got to be at the bottom of the swimming pool taking notes.