"I chose to read Absurdistan 'cause I'd somehow heard a good buzz on it, just like it had been popping up in magazines and things like that, and I was in the mood for a satire; I was in the mood for something kind of light but that also had a reputation of being a little smarter, and I also like contemporary fiction as much as possible.
Absurdistan is more or less about a fictional country called Absurdistan, which is located next to Iran and next to Russia. And this guy, Boris Vainberg, who is trying to defect to the United States after having lived there as a youth for a little while and getting a taste of the country. Luckily he's the son of a very rich Russian mobster, but his life goes haywire when his father is killed; and in order to get to the United States he has to go through the country of Absurdistan, and all these wacky situations befall him. But basically, it's just an interesting satire on how a country would react to be next to Iran having a lot of oil in it and United States involvement.
The thing I liked most about Absurdistan was piecing together as I was reading the similarities between Absurdistan and the situation in Iraq. At first I was charmed by the characters and their vulgar, obscene situations and how American this Russian seemed to be where he'd just throw away money and consume everything in his path; and then at the same time realizing that he was kind of a power player in a country similar to Iraq, thinking about how Iraqis are possibly reacting to United States involvement there. Taking the Iraq picture and looking at it from a different perspective was a real trip; it was a lot of fun.
I would recommend Absurdistan to people who can take a joke about contemporary politics. I would give Absurdistan a three, just 'cause I want to be a tough grader; but it was a lot of fun, even at 3.5.
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