The Russian debutante's handbook. Ed: Riverhead Books, New York, 2002

No, it is not a story of a young Russian aristocrate attending its first ball, but of a Russian Jewish immigrant in New York. At the age of 25 Vladimir Girshkin - this is the name of the hero - works for a small Immirgant Absorbtion Society to the dismay of his parents who expect their only son to accomplish the American dream. The first novel of a Leningrad-born (in 1972) American writer Gary Shteyngart was a considerable success : besides several literary awards it earned, it egually received an almost unanimous critics' acclaim.