Sign-In
Cart
Little Failure
Paperback
Biographies GeneralLiterary FiguresHumor
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 0812982495
ISBN13: 9780812982497
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: Oct 7 2014
Pages: 384
Weight: 0.61
Height: 0.79 Width: 5.23 Depth: 8.24
Language: English
ISBN13: 9780812982497
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: Oct 7 2014
Pages: 384
Weight: 0.61
Height: 0.79 Width: 5.23 Depth: 8.24
Language: English
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST
NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MICHIKO KAKUTANI, THE NEW YORK TIMES - NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY TIMENAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MORE THAN 45 PUBLICATIONS, INCLUDING
The New York Times Book Review - The Washington Post - NPR - The New Yorker - San Francisco Chronicle - The Economist - The Atlantic - Newsday - Salon - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - The Guardian - Esquire (UK) - GQ (UK) Little Failure is the all too true story of an immigrant family betting its future on America, as told by a lifelong misfit who finally finds a place for himself in the world through books and words. In 1979, a little boy dragging a ginormous fur hat and an overcoat made from the skin of some Soviet woodland creature steps off the plane at New York's JFK International Airport and into his new American life. His troubles are just beginning. For the former Igor Shteyngart, coming to the United States from the Soviet Union is like stumbling off a monochromatic cliff and landing in a pool of Technicolor. Careening between his Soviet home life and his American aspirations, he finds himself living in two contradictory worlds, wishing for a real home in one. He becomes so strange to his parents that his mother stops bickering with his father long enough to coin the phrase failurchka--little failure--which she applies to her once-promising son. With affection. Mostly. From the terrors of Hebrew School to a crash course in first love to a return visit to the homeland that is no longer home, Gary Shteyngart has crafted a ruthlessly brave and funny memoir of searching for every kind of love--family, romantic, and of the self.
Praise for Little Failure
Hilarious and moving . . . The army of readers who love Gary Shteyngart is about to get bigger.--The New York Times Book Review
A memoir for the ages . . . brilliant and unflinching.--Mary Karr Dazzling . . . a rich, nuanced memoir . . . It's an immigrant story, a coming-of-age story, a becoming-a-writer story, and a becoming-a-mensch story, and in all these ways it is, unambivalently, a success.--Meg Wolitzer, NPR Literary gold . . . [a] bruisingly funny memoir.--Vogue
A giant success.--Entertainment Weekly
[Little Failure] finds the delicate balance between sidesplitting and heartbreaking.--O: The Oprah Magazine
Should become a classic of the immigrant narrative genre.--The Miami Herald
As vivid, original and funny as any that contemporary U.S. literature has to offer.--Los Angeles Times
The very best memoirs perfectly toe the line between heartbreak and humor, and Shteyngart does just that.--Esquire Touching, insightful . . . [Shteyngart] nimbly achieves the noble Nabokovian goal of letting sentiment in without ever becoming sentimental.--The Washington Post
[Shteyngart is] a successor to no less than Saul Bellow and Philip Roth.--The Christian Science Monitor
Praise for Little Failure
Hilarious and moving . . . The army of readers who love Gary Shteyngart is about to get bigger.--The New York Times Book Review
A memoir for the ages . . . brilliant and unflinching.--Mary Karr Dazzling . . . a rich, nuanced memoir . . . It's an immigrant story, a coming-of-age story, a becoming-a-writer story, and a becoming-a-mensch story, and in all these ways it is, unambivalently, a success.--Meg Wolitzer, NPR Literary gold . . . [a] bruisingly funny memoir.--Vogue
A giant success.--Entertainment Weekly
[Little Failure] finds the delicate balance between sidesplitting and heartbreaking.--O: The Oprah Magazine
Should become a classic of the immigrant narrative genre.--The Miami Herald
As vivid, original and funny as any that contemporary U.S. literature has to offer.--Los Angeles Times
The very best memoirs perfectly toe the line between heartbreak and humor, and Shteyngart does just that.--Esquire Touching, insightful . . . [Shteyngart] nimbly achieves the noble Nabokovian goal of letting sentiment in without ever becoming sentimental.--The Washington Post
[Shteyngart is] a successor to no less than Saul Bellow and Philip Roth.--The Christian Science Monitor
Also in
Humor
I Can't Believe I Did That: The Game That Gives You Points for Sharing Awkward, Awesome, and Unforgettable Memories: Card Games
Katcher, Neil
Nadelberg, David
Other
$20.00
The Science Magpie: Fascinating Facts, Stories, Poems, Diagrams and Jokes Plucked from Science
Flynn, Simon
Paperback
From $9.99
Fixing Flamingos: And Other Solutions to the World's Least Pressing Problems
Rea, Brian
Brown, Lucienne
Paperback
$18.95
How to Be a Cat: (Cat Books for Kids, Cat Gifts for Kids, Cat Picture Book)
Swerling, Lisa
Lazar, Ralph
Hardcover
$4.99
Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers: A Little Book of Whimsy and Wisdom from the Files of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
Hardcover
$9.99
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself
Lawson, Jenny
Hardcover
$26.10
Bake It Off: An Unofficial Taylor Swift-Inspired Cookbook for Every Era, from Breakfast to Midnights
Smith, Lindsey
Hardcover
From $12.99
Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love
Schur, Michael
Posnanski, Joe
Hardcover
$31.50
We Are the World (Cup): A Personal History of the World's Greatest Sporting Event
Bennett, Roger
Hardcover
$27.00
Black Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to '90s Sitcoms
Bennett, Geoff
Hardcover
$29.69
How to Grow Up Without Becoming a Grown-Up: Big Lessons from Little Kids
Shapiro-Barnum, Julian
Hardcover
$23.40
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Five Novels in One Outrageous Volume
Adams, Douglas
Paperback
From $14.99
There Are Moms Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent
Boozan, Glenn
Hardcover
$14.25
The New Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Expert Advice for Extreme Situations
Borgenicht, David
Piven, Joshua
Hardcover
$18.95
How to Talk to Your Cat about Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives
Auburn, Zachary
Paperback
From $6.99
Pardon My Book: Ten Years of the Best (and Worst) in Sports from Pardon My Take
Big Cat
Commenter, Pft
Hardcover
$33.25
Nobody Wants Your Sh*t: The Art of Decluttering Before You Die (New York Times Bestseller)
Condo, Messie
Hardcover
$18.99