by Gary Shteyngart
A special spring two-fer from Janet & Linda!
Reviewed by Janet:
A pandemic novel presented with humor, irony, and heart, Our Country Friends will take you back to the early spring of 2020. Sasha Senderovsky and his wife, Masha, invite a handful of friends to take refuge with them in their bungalow colony 2 hours north of New York City. As this disparate group of people struggle to find their way in relationships, work, daily life, and a life-threatening pandemic, they each must come to terms with what matters most to them.
Reviewed by Linda:
A Russian-born novelist, his therapist wife, and their young daughter—Sasha, Masha, and little Natasha—flee New York City at the start of the pandemic and invite five friends to join them at their upstate country property. The group includes a former student of the novelist, a wildly successful Korean American app developer, and a famous movie star. Over the next 6 months, they will experience romances, betrayals, and life-changing decisions, in a satirical look at the lives of American elites during a nationwide medical crisis.