lake success [gary shteyngart]

Gary Shteyngart’s novel feels very akin to the work of Moshfegh and Markovits. It’s a knowing, accomplished, referential representation of contemporary USA. The novel occurs against the backdrop of the last US presidential campaign. Trump’s ascension to power frames the book, giving the context for Shteyngart to construct a kind of balance sheet of America’s pros and contras. For every cold-blooded mercantile banker, there’s a sweet-hearted girl travelling the Greyhound who’s ready to be your guardian angel. A duality that doesn’t always convince, in part because of the slightly Slothropian protagonist, Barry Cohen, a hedge fund manager whose life is falling apart. The novel tries to have it both ways with Barry. He’s a dumb capitalist who’s also an idiot savant. A robber baron with a poet’s sensitivity. This is a character combination which is never going to be easy to pull off.  Having said that, Lake Success doesn’t do a bad job of realising its little-hidden aim to offer a contemporary take on On The Road. The author’s closing notes mention the journey he took which is documented by Barry in the novel. Riding the Greyhound buses from NY to the border. After Barry’s marriage falls dramatically to pieces, he goes on a runner, tootling across the country on Greyhound buses, a proletarian means of travel which he would never normally have considered, but one that allows him to get to know the underbelly of his country. The writer isn’t shy of referencing Kerouac (or Fitzgerald or Hemingway), and whilst these references might sometimes feels a bit laboured, there’s also a lyricism to the prose as it traces Barry’s journey. Trump’s America laid bare, from coast to coast.