Lake Success

Comfortable book of the year so far and the best Shteyngart has written. It is full of humour and poignancy as well as a deep insight into the state of America at the time of the Trump era’s beginning. Even with Trump now gone, the country’s evident divisions displayed here have far from healed. Per his previous works, much of Lake Success could be called ‘super-sad’ and also disarmingly true. At the heart of the novel (from a personal/moral point of view, as opposed to a more sweeping macro perspective) is the question of what makes us happy. Further, what role does/should money play in the equation? And, as the novel’s action unfolds, what life-changing events have to occur before an epiphany/realisation can be arrived at? Shteyngart also throws in the additional topic of autism in a three-year old child, how this changes our concerns and values. Despite three major characters (which could easily have overwhelmed a lesser author), Lake Success is a delight to read. There is a large dose of humour/satire (esp. concerning the ways of the ultra-rich) and also a lot of social/character change. One take on Lake Success might be to see it as a 21st Century On the Road. More than America is covered though and Shteyngart’s research into Mexican, Indian and other cultures is meticulous. Overall, the novel ponders almost on that most profound of questions: what is our purpose (in being here) and will we ever know it? A pity then the novel ended. 10/10

By Gary Shteyngart