Gary’s Comments (group member since Feb 21, 2014)

Gary’s comments from the Ask Gary Shteyngart - Friday, March 7th! group.

Brian, I certainly understood more about my parents when I finished writing the book and loved them all the more for it.

I'll take facebook stalking on any level.

Thanks guys. Please follow me on twitter or facebook for more updates. If I come to San Diego it'll be UCSD hosting me.

San Diego forever, David! I might be coming there in the near future, I hope.

1. Will start writing new book this summer. Expect a thriller!
2. We're working on the script to Super Sad the TV show
3. I'm not against anything except violence and salmonella.
4. See above. May would be nice if it all works out.
Good luck with the Danube.

Hi, Wanda. Toggling between fiction and non-fiction requires a palate cleanser of 4-hours of high-quality TV viewing.

Katherine, I'm a huge fan of Akhil Sharma who has a book out later this year.

Thanks, Mary. Right back at you!

Katherine, it's a good question as to why american immigrant fiction is so robust. Could it be that as a nation of immigrants we've been at it longer than say Germany or Italy? I'm not sure, but it does fascinate me.

Matt, the life I lead right now is quite different from the one I write about so it doesn't feel more or less interesting.

Deirde, Thanks for buying Little Failure. Felix is very greedy when it comes to giving out his paw print. We'll see how he feels when the next rent is due.

Christopher, I'm hugely into monocles. I'm wearing one right now!

RB, I'm in an indie film called Junk which will be released soon playing an awful creative writing professor. The role I was born to play!

RB, I think it was just James Franco and not Louis CK in my video. Unless, I'm missing something. In any case, James Franco was my student at Columbia. And he was a really good student!

I loved that NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, for those who are wondering). I lived at 575 Grand Street, East River, for 5 years, and I still miss it.

There was a book that I'm reading on one of the first pages of the memoir (I'm dressed in a typical Russian sailor suit for little kids). It was a talmud-sized tome about the civil war of 1917. I was obsessed with the whole Menshevik vs. Bolshevik question, as any nerdy Soviet kid would be.

Hey, Meg. Nice to hear from you and I hope Canada has forgiven me for all I've done. It's hard to give advice about creative writing because each writer is so different, but I will say that what I look most in a student's work is an authoritative voice. Make me believe that only you could have written this story or novel. And come to Columbia, the water's warm!

Paul, I met Todd Solondz after we both worked at the same resettlement agency and it did have a huge effect on our work. I can't speak for him, but I would go with tender misanthropic feelings.

Paul, I tried to be as honest as possible in Lil Failure. To that end, there's a lot less dialogue in there than in my novels, because how is it possible to go back and recreate that dialogue with complete precision? That said, there are a few instances where I did my best to recreate what was said and I did try to include the humor that was such an important part of my childhood and development.

Douglas, my parents haven't read Failure yet. They usually wait for the Russian edition.

Hi, Abby. Glad you liked my descriptions of anxiety and food. That pretty much sums up my life. College is an interesting time because it is that pivot between being a kid and being an adult, or at least it used to be (many of my male friends are only ready for adulthood in their early 40s). I wouldn't sweat it too much, just live in the moment and enjoy as much of it as you can. I miss learning things.