
Super Sad True Love Story
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Ali Ahn
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Adam Grupper
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By:
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Gary Shteyngart
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, LLCListeners also enjoyed...




















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What are you people thinking?
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Would you consider the audio edition of Super Sad True Love Story to be better than the print version?
I've been meaning to read this author for a while, and am so glad to have finally gotten around to it via audiobook. The narrator enhanced what is already a brilliant book with endearing characters by 50% or so.Which character – as performed by Ali Ahn and Adam Grupper – was your favorite?
Eunice Park.Such a delight!
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good intelligent silliness
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If you could sum up Super Sad True Love Story in three words, what would they be?
Thought provoking, relevant, emotionally poignant.What did you like best about this story?
It was a great cautionary tale. It swept me away into this futuristic world. The characters tugged at my heart as they were expertly and elegantly brought to life by these two narrators. At first I thought Lenny's voice would annoy me, but as I listened, it was actually perfect for the character. The female's performance could not have been more excellent. This was well cast--the actors were phenomenal.Have you listened to any of Ali Ahn and Adam Grupper ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No. But I would like to listen to more of Ali Ahn in particular.Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
It was all quite stirring. I loved every "page."Any additional comments?
Highly recommended for story and narration.All around fantastic
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Great novel, great Audible voicing (both readers are excellent.
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To use a compliment sandwich, the epistolary novel is something of a dying art form. So it is welcome treat to read one intended for a modern audience.
That being said I found the protagonist —Lenny Abramov, to be insufferably unlikely, and while I know that is probably the intent, he reeked of author self insert qualities while brining no endearing attributes. While he is not a bad person and does nothing ethically wrong —he is particularly a spineless goober of a man with little to no endearing who brings nothing to the table in his pursuit the seemingly vapid Eunice Park.
It is Eunice, that I —surprisingly, found sympathetic. Hidden behind her materialistic and conceited demeanor, is a person who truly cares for both her family and others. Against all logic wasting what seemed to be a good less six months of her life baby sitting the both helpless and hopeless Lenny, until the next —and questionably better, meal ticket comes along (though Joshi’s fixation on her is even more creepy). In the end —while I do agree it was cruel and cold for her to leave Lenny the way she did, I found it hard to blame her. The country was collapsing around her and she had a lifeline being thrown to her and her family. That and Lenny adding nothing to her, except being an emotional burden. His only positive trait being “smart” for reading a bunch of old Russian books. I was actually really relieved in the end to learn that Eunice ended up with someone other than those two men —she deserved better.
I felt Lenny’s simping to be both distasteful and uncomfortable to read. And I really didn’t feel bad for him despite the underhanded nature of her and Joshi’s betrayal at the end. Little lesson, kiddies no woman likes to be “simped” over —and they will always leave no matter how “nice” you are.
Which leads me to how unbelievable I felt the situation that drove most of the romantic plot was. No matter what excuses given: Eunice going back to America to protect her mother and sister from a potentially sexually abusive father, or keeping her little sister out of an increasingly volatile political situation, I found her deciding to “shack up” with Lenny —a guy she barely knew, so unlikely it took me out of the story.
Now while I found the dystopian subplot of an America on the brink —and later actually collapsing, to be a fascinating premise, Shteyngart is so vague on what is actually happening, that I’m left more confused than anything else. Now, if this were a different story —one where there is a given reason for the vagueness: like a communication blackout, or the characters being actively disinterested as the events play out in the distant background , I could understand and even appreciate it. But the political backdrop of the Bipartisans, Chinese mega-corporations, war in Venezuela, the immortality project, and the aftermath of the “rupture” are so central to the plot that a consistent and coherent explanation is warranted —and yet never comes.
To end with a compliment, I —despite being a heartbroken man myself, really loved the chapters from Eunice’s perspective. And despite her many —many flaws, found her an endearing sympathetic character who painfully reminded me of a few women I loved before. The actress who does her narration really nailed it. I also liked the epilogue and felt it was a fitting end for all three characters…but I’ve gone on long enough.
Shteyngart writes very powerful prose, and I was particularly driven by how he wrote Lenny’s interactions with his friend’s wife —Grace (one of his few sympathetic moments). Really gave me John Wayne in The Searchers vibes —but seemed ill fitting for a character of Lenny’s low stature.
Somewhere Between Love and Hate
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(PS. the three stars are for the concept of the story, the few interesting satires/current reality references, and the Eunice character reader)
Hard to continue after first half...
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Fabulous Listen!
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Super Sad Future
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My usual critiques apply here: too much about characters and situations that are not interesting, and not enough about the people who really do have something interesting to offer. I don't think "Eunice" - or "Yew-niss" as the narrator says it, or "UNIS" like some weird acronym - is very appealing at all. What does she offer?? Just pretty-ness? Whatever it is she's got, this book ignores it. I loved that the Italian actresses mocked her.
Still Gary Shteyngart managed to keep me entertained and laughing, and also depressed at times. I look forward to "verbal"-ing about this with friends and family, and streaming on our "operati".
Ramblin'...and Ramblin' on...
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