A Russian immigrant and his wife invite 6 friends to stay at their camp in upstate NY during the pandemic. The lockdown at this camp (a house and it's surrounding bungalows) brings to light and exacerbates the long-held history between all of the characters. At the beginning, I struggled to care about any of the characters but by the end of the book, they had all become a least a little more understood. The language is beautiful and each characters' quirks are fully explored.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in return for my honest review.

Few writers can distill a sweeping sociological shift into a novel that's readable, perhaps even poignant or funny. But somehow Gary Shteyngart pulls off this feat over and over. After reading "Super Sad True Love Story" years ago, Shteyngart earned a place on my "I'll read whatever this person cares to write" list. His latest, "Our Country Friends," reflects back on the more privileged experience of life in 2020 America. With unflinching prose, Shteyngart assembles a diverse cast of characters and puts them in isolation as a group. They fall in and out of love, hurt each other, heal each other, take steps to reckon with their prejudices and find living through a global pandemic alternately bearable and impossible. The bond shared by the characters who've known each other since their immigrant childhood in New York City is especially nuanced and interesting. I'm grateful to have writers like Shteyngart who offer us a chance to think more deeply about the times we're living in and What It All Means.

Chekhovian. A snapshot of second generation immigrant lives in pandemic retreat and during the first round of Trumpian attacks on America.

I wanted to love this book and I was so sure I would!

A Corona tale written in a Russian style of an eccentric group of friends meeting up to weather the Covid storm together in the country. Even more exciting is this book is set where I live!

Unfortunately, this book was a lot like lockdown. Sounds like it could be great fun (Lie around and do nothing all day??! Sure!) but when nothing happens it gets old very quickly, and it’s a real struggle to get through.

Gary Sheyngart’s novel set in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, tells the story of a group of friends who leave New York City to “pod” in a colony upstate. An ill-assorted band of friends and colleagues show up to hide out from the virus and attempt to stumble on with a normal life.

Unfortunately, I was exasperated by the self-centeredness and self-indulgence of all of the characters. Shteyngart accurately exposes some of the most disappointing of the pandemic behaviors that we all lived through.

This was the first pandemic novel that I’ve read, and I was hoping for something a little bit more redemptive.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart
This is the 2nd book I have read by Gary Shteyngart. I had previously read Absurdistan and am not sure why I have not read more. I believe this book is a bit different from his previous works as it does not rely as much on his wit to make situations a bit “absurd or a folly”. Instead, this book reads more like a tragedy. Indeed, as he mentions it does read like a Chekov play.
The story takes place as the pandemic begins and the characters are invited by a Russian/American author/academic and his wife to stay at their country home up the Hudson Valley from New York City. The guests include 2 men and 2 women who are all old friends and have history together along with the odd one out who is referred to as. “The Actor.” They all live in their individual themed cottages beside the main house.
I have listened to Mr. Shteyngart discuss this book and in fact not only did he write this book during the beginnings of the pandemic, he did it from his own country home in the Hudson Valley and much it from the screened in porch that is the focal room of the story.
The book reads very much like a play and I could see it being turned into a production with the porch and the cottages easily being created where two rotating characters, talk and yes love.
Although The Actor is the professional it felt to me the other characters at times played parts and not themselves while The Actor attempted to find his true self, if there is actually one.
I enjoyed this book very much and although not a New Yorker, I can see these characters as real people, obsessed with themselves while trying to connect with another.
I hope the pandemic does not last another year (it is now November ’21) but whether it does or not I would recommend this book to go into the pile to be read.

I started off really enjoying this book, but gradually my interest waned and it did start to feel a bit self-indulgent. Personally, I'm very into finding books that have already been written as taking place during the "real" 2020 during COVID and lockdowns and all that. It's such a pivotal time period that's going to be historically important that I find it interesting to experience in fiction. I thought it was interesting to see how the author took stylistic inspiration from classic Russian lit and overlaid that with modern characters and themes. So I liked the writing and at first I cared about the characters, but that tapered off.

I know this book is getting all sorts of advance press as being one of the 'best fall books' but it just didn't do it for me. I didn't like any of the characters and certainly couldn't relate to any of them. The plot seemed to be somewhat nonexistent. Even the whole theme of living through the pandemic didn't especially resonate with me because I couldn't relate to the characters and their particular situation. Still, the writing is good and I'll give the book 3 stars for that.

This is a book set in 2020. It's good and parts are very funny, but I think it's too soon for me to enjoy a novel set during Covid/Lockdown.

This book about a group of friends staying at a compound of sorts at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was was a self-indulgent bore. I didn't like any of the characters (except maybe the daughter.) Shteyngart is blind to a lot of things about women and it shows in his female characters. I wish I would have skipped this book.

So we finally have our pandemic novel. And who better to create this fable than Gary Shteyngart.. The setup is a simple Uncle Vanya house party of educated, artistic friends with issues that will be unearthed through months of (upscale) close quarters living and rubbing up against each others neuroses and fears. Against the backdrop of a crowd of social issues and - oh yes - a pandemic with no clear end in sight, anything can happen. Enjoy if you can.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A man who lives with his wife and child in the country invites 2 long time friends and 3 other guests to stay in guest bungalows at the beginning of the Covid quarantine period. The family and guests share life, bicker, and both support and sabotage one another.

This author truly captures the uncertainty and upheaval of the early months of the covid-19 pandemic, with the story of a disparate group of old friends who ride out the isolation together on one of the friend's country estate. Prepare to dig in for a long, uninterrupted read, as this book dives right in to the complicated lives of these characters and sets up some pretty explosive interactions. I look forward to recommending this title.

The beginning of Pandemic Literature finds OUR COUNTRY FRIENDS receiving so much praise that I was really eager to read author Gary Shteyngart’s new work. I have not read any of his previous publications. This is less about the COVID 19 and more about reframing classic Russian novels and placing them squarely in 2020 amidst the peculiarities of ‘life in the US.’ There is almost a Borscht Belt humor running through this book, but I felt as though I missed a lot of the clever references within it. This is not broad comedy, it is an acquired taste. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

This book epitomizes what the historian Juliet Gardiner calls 'fingertip history' -- a "telling of an age that is so close that you can still just about touch it." And for the first time in a long time I could not put a book down, simultaneously smiling and sad with every page turn. Irresistibly funny, too, and perfect for this cultural moment. Of the many new fictions seemingly vying for The Great American Covid Novel, this might be it. Included in November edition of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s best fiction picks for Zoomer magazine’s Books section.

A book set in a found family community in upstate New York during Covid isolation- was I ready for this? I was, but this book was a total disappointment. I was interested in the characters and the storyline but it just took every opportunity to let me down. This book, and author, are highly regarded by book critics (which should have been a warning to me, the common reader.) If I was a Chekov scholar, maybe I would have found the parallels that he tries to drawn here interesting. But I am not; I am an average person. If I understood Russian humor more, maybe I would have enjoyed that. But I did not. I heard the author on a podcast, boasting about how funny this book was, but I was left wondering if I even read the right book.
This has some interesting and diverse characters, but I felt that they just didn't fully come out here. They were quirky and it just left me wondering why and how.
I hope this book finds it's audience (clearly, with book critics), but it is not with me.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance readers copy for review.

This was my first Gary Shteyngart novel and while I know he has many fans, this style of writing was not my favorite. I found it sharp and funny at times, but I also found it a bit self-indulgent and didn’t really connect with the characters. A pandemic novel about friendship, love, and betrayal probably best enjoyed by those that are Shteyngart admirers.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this ARC.

It’s March 2020 and the pandemic proceeds apace. A group of friends gather to wait it out in the country and for the next six months their friendships and alliances are put severely to the test. I tried my best but eventually gave up. The characters are so over-the-top, little more than caricatures, the so-called humour, heavy-handed and obvious, didn’t raise a smile, and I soon lost interest. A handful of characters cooped up in isolation is only interesting if they themselves are interesting and relatable or at least credible. This sorry shower were none of those things, but rather self-indulgent narcissistic non-entities, about whom I couldn’t care less.

I was interested in reading this not just because it is by Gary Shteyngart, but because it is being billed as the first pandemic novel. By using a group of friends of various racial and economic backgrounds isolating together he is able to capture the various responses to the pandemic people had. From performative hand washing to the daily wondering if this cough is covid he totally nails the daily emotional rollercoaster of living through this pandemic, but it's way more funny the way he tells it.

If you are unsure if you can read a COVID book, I'm here to assure you that you can, this one at least. Even though I found the characters to be HIGHLY unlikeable and irritating, it was a romp to watch them all in this house together. There were moments of laughter and, of course, sorrow. If you like comedies of manners, run don't walk!