11 Novels About Dysfunctional Families to Put You at Ease When You're Home for the Holidays Looking for an escape from the family function? Read these books by Emma Straub, Zadie Smith, and more. Marie Claire · Nov 20, 2025
Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart review – is this the future for America? Set a decade from now, this coming-of-age caper offers a child’s-eye view of family troubles in a ‘post-democracy’ USA The Guardian - UK · Jul 28, 2025
Gary Shteyngart: ‘Orwell made dictatorships seem a lot less sexy’ The Soviet-born novelist on rewriting the Torah, learning from Judy Blume, and why Vladimir Nabokov is ‘yum’ The Guardian - UK · Jun 16, 2023
Trip of the week: a gastronomic tour of Mexico City “Mexico City’s global reputation has been on an upswing for some time”, and among its greatest glories is its food scene, says Gary Shteyngart in Condé Nast Traveller. It has some of the world’s best restaurants – it is on a culinary par with Paris or Bangkok – and in… The Week · Apr 10, 2023
Life, death, intimacy and privilege: 4 works of COVID fiction – and what they say about us Pandemics force us to face our mortality, prompting profound questions about life’s meaning. It is not surprising, therefore, that since the days of medieval plague outbreaks, infectious diseases have attracted the imagination of novelists. These stories operate as cautionary tales, holding humanity to account. The Conversation · Sep 11, 2022
What links This England to Angelina Jolie, via Matt Hancock? With the five-part drama coming to screens soon, we go down the pandemic rabbit hole with Michael Winterbottom, Daniel Pearl and Kenneth Branagh The Guardian - UK · Sep 3, 2022
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart review – Chekhov-inspired capers Old friends escape New York to sit out the pandemic in a Covid satire whose references don’t travel well The Guardian - UK · Feb 7, 2022
Gary Shteyngart: ‘We’re entering a time of permanent crisis’ The US satirist on why he had to find a UK publisher for his latest novel, his son’s Korean lessons, and the appeal of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth The Guardian - UK · Jan 29, 2022
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart review – lockdown tragicomedy A group of friends hole up in the countryside to ride out New York’s pandemic in the ‘Dacha of Doom’ The Guardian - UK · Jan 26, 2022