'Absurdistan'

Gary Shteyngart

Misha "Snack Daddy" Vainberg is the arrogant, overweight son of the 1,238th richest man in Russia. All he wants is to be left alone so he can listen to rap music in the South Bronx with his trash-talking girlfriend, but his hoped-for visa vanishes when his gangster father murders a U.S. businessman in Russia. Snack Daddy pins his hopes on the corrupt government of Absurdistan to sell him a passport. But no sooner does he get there than he gets sucked into a civil war, staged by the country's elite. Like Borat, serious commentary lurks behind the absurdities. This outrageous novel is brimming with pessimism and intellectual incorrectness.