If you read only one memoir by a disaffected, urban, 20-something Jewish girl this year, make it this one. Shukert rocks the lulav.
Gary ShteyngartI always think that good writers should be growing up on the brink of death - it really lets them see mortality very clearly.
Gary ShteyngartI 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.
Gary ShteyngartWe are now part of this giant machine where every second we have to take out a device and contribute our thoughts and opinions.
Gary ShteyngartShe took my hand and pulled me after her, her shoulders giving off a sweet peppermint concoction that the bodies of young women sometimes produce to make my life more difficult.
Gary ShteyngartSummer is a Latvian chicken. We make foolish choices. We think weโre young again. We run with outstretched arms toward an object of love and it pecks us and pecks us until weโre standing there snot-nosed and teary in the middle of Astor Place and the sun sets fire to our Penguin shirts and all that is left to do is go to our air-conditioned homes and ponder the cruelty of our finest season.
Gary Shteyngart