(Photo courtesy of Creative Commons)

Shteyngart, the novel’s author, has since been both extremely critically acclaimed and commercially successful due in large part to the fact that there had previously been a void in the realm of fiction with his name on it. Until that first novel of his was published, the literary world had been subconsciously yearning for a tale of the modern Russian immigrant’s experience—especially one that takes place in New York City.

And this year marked the arrival of his third novel, "Super Sad True Love Story", published in hardcover by Random House. And if you’re looking to polish off your summer with a sweet shot of romantic, painful, delightful and satiric dystopia (also set in the author’s beloved New York City), this book should shoot to the top of your “to-read” list.

Meet Lenny Abramov. He’s a schmuck. He’s balding, homely, tragically socially awkward, and—possibly the worst of all—he’s nearly forty.

And we love him. Oh, sweet, sweet irony, how much we love him.

Lenny’s utterly hopeless devotion to the young, brash, smart and boy-bodied Eunice Park is the—you guessed it—“love story” element of "Super Sad True Love Story." Told completely through diary entries (Lenny’s entries essentially comprise the literature of the novel, while Eunice’s are done in an instant-message fashion, uncovering the human, internet-obsessed youth culture that looks way too familiar), we are given both sides of this car crash of a relationship.

This is a crash from which we most definitely cannot look away. If you can, I salute you. What makes this dysfunctional encounter so engaging to me is the pairing of bumbling, innocent Lenny, whom Eunice describes as “a dangerous man” in terms of his openness with love, with the desensitized and much sought-after Eunice Park. Her “fuckability” rating is in the 800+ range, for crying out loud. And yes, that will make all too much sense once you’re introduced to this world that Shteyngart has created.

A world far too close for comfort, really.

Youth-obsessed? Oh, yes. Lenny works for a company that’s basically trying to keep people from dying.

Technology-addicted? Most definitely. Almost every living human wears an “äppärät” around their neck, which is essentially a portable mix of Facebook, YouTube and freecreditreport.com. Lenny once encounters a man without such a device, and he asks himself, bewildered, what kind of person can’t be found on this earth.

This earth, indeed. All three of Shteyngart’s novels—"The Russian Debutante’s Handbook," "Absurdistan" and this one—have helped to cement his place among the ranks of great satirists. The late 19th century had Twain; the early 21st has Shteyngart. He clearly knew how uncomfortably familiar this world he’d constructed would be for us Millenials. It turned out looking frightening, sad, hilarious and beautiful. Much like Eunice herself. Much like his relationship with her. And much like the other love of Lenny’s life, New York City—still breathtaking despite the tyrannical US government keeping every one of its inhabitants in check -both financially and socially. 

I sigh with fear.

Some hipster part of me wishes I could say “fight the man!”—that I could have read this book with some sort of hip, snobby chip on my shoulder and written this to warn my fellow Millenials to resist the hype surrounding this book.

But in reality, Shteyngart is simply magical. I'm so very glad that he's alive while I'm alive. His prose is clean, enjoyable, quite honest and, most refreshingly, miles away from self-indulgent. I enjoy his writing immensely, and I cannot recommend spending some precious time in his world(s) any more vehemently.

Besides, who in their right mind would turn down a super sad true(-ish) love story?

Reach Staff Reporter Kelly Baron here.

Follow her on Twitter @KellyBBaron