Love this book, it is very niche humor. I heard that it’s been optioned for a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal and I’m interested to see what he does with this material

This is fine Shteyngart - marvelous and engaging single lines, set pieces, throwaway observations, and deadpan disses. But it's all in the service of an obvious and well worn satirical point. Apparently the rich ARE different from the rest of us. Who knew?

I did not have a chance to read this book, but it is effecting my feedback rating. I am giving books 5 stars that I haven't read to improve my feedback rating. I am not recommending the book for my classroom or students since I have not read the book. There needs to be a better system of leaving feedback for books not read.

Shteyngart is always an excellent writer, and this book was no exception. Shteyngart was able to take contemporary politics and turn it into an entertaining satire, all the while sticking with the sardonic tone evident in his other fiction. It was sometimes hard to read because the main character is such a jerk, but that was sort of the point of the book.

I have a love/hate relationship with Shteyngart's books, but I keep coming back for more. This one offers us another unlikable, self-centered male. Oddly enough, I actually felt something for him and his plight.

Gary Shteyngart writes with such a signature mixture of humor and bittersweet sadness, and he has a great story to which those skills are supplied in Lake Success, which tracks the cross-country trek of a disgraced one-percenter. Along the way he finds ample time to dwell on a particular Shteyngart obsession - luxury mechanical watches. As both an author and a horologist, he has exquisite taste.

When I finished this novel, my main thought was: "What was the point of that?" - which probably isn't a good sign. Shteyngart's novel, set during the months leading up to Trump's election, switches between two points of view: Barry, an uber-rich financier who has questionable morals, and his wife, Seema, a young mother struggling with her son's autism diagnosis. When Barry decides to flee on a journey across the country by Greyhound bus, Seema is left to raise her son on her own. I'm not a stickler for having likable characters but both of the main characters made some pretty questionable choices. I'm guessing the author's intent was to show how massive wealth and privilege influence the daily lives of the people who have it (especially during the Trump era), but the whole thing just left me feeling kind of annoyed and frustrated by these people. There isn't a ton of plot (mostly the characters making the same mistakes over and over again), but I do appreciate Shteyngart's ability to fully flesh out his characters (even minor ones) and at least the ending was satisfying.

Hedgefund billionaire Barry leaves his picture perfect life on a Greyhound bus leaving his perfect wife and perfect life. This is such a chaotic, fun story that you won't be able to put it down.

Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart was not a success in my book. I really wanted to like this book, and I read 60% of the first part of the book, and then I skipped some and read the last 15%. I was hoping for a satisfying conclusion, but that didn't happen for me either.

You take an idiotic man who is a hedge-fund manager (no, that isn't why he was idiotic), but you add on to it that he leaves home because he has a son with autism (yes, that makes him idiotic), and you send him on the road to "find himself." At times, the book was interesting because of some of the people he met while traveling, but truly, I just didn't care about the main character, and that's a problem.

I gave this book two out of five stars. This book was given to me for my honest review.

Shteyngart plays on so many different and immensely satisfying levels in Lake Success. Part road trip, part family drama, and part character study, the novel's linchpin, Barry Cohen, watch geek and hedge fund guy runs from his life on a Greyhound bus, looking for his college girlfriend with the hope of starting over, assuming she's the woman she was back at Princeton. As he makes his pilgrim's progress, he shares moments in time with a wide variety of humans, including plenty of strangers. No one is more a stranger to Barry than his non-verbal, autistic three-year-old, Shiva. Barry is a fresh and complex character, and his journey of self-discovery is tense, rocky, rash, and weirdly romantic. Shteyngart has painted a compelling portrait of the privileged white man in the Trump Era, and it is clear how, beneath everything, the fact of Trump has shaken America. This is a rich portrait of the U.S.A. as the watch ticks down. A splendid writer.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of Gary Shteyngart’s novel, Lake Success, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT - Barry Cohen is a wealthy, NYC hedge-fund manger who is having a super-sized mid-life crisis. His career is about to implode and he is likely facing jail time due to an SEC investigation. He hides his troubles from his younger, beautiful wife, Seema. Seema hides an affair that she is having with a married writer who lives in their building, a man whom her husband despises. They both battle with their emotions over their severely autistic son. Barry’s crisis makes him flee the city, catching a Greyhound bus and traveling cross-country to reconnect with his first love, who has no idea that he is coming. The adventures on his trip will take him as far away from his luxury lifestyle as he could have ever imagined.

LIKE - Lake Success is completely unpredictable, hilarious, and quirky. Barry and Seema are both unlikeable, narcissistic characters, that Shteyngart manages to humanize and make relatable. I started out disgusted with them and slowly began to care for both of them.

Barry’s misadventures on the road are a great blend of being outrageous and uproariously funny, with affecting. As Barry comes out of his shell, meeting people that he would have never interacted with in his NYC life, he begins to change.

In one scene, he wanders into a rough neighborhood and has a conversation with a crack dealer. The wacky part of this scene is Barry is asked to leave, so the dealer can ramp up his act for a tour group of “Urban Tourists” who are interested in seeing a poor, ethnic neighborhood. The drug dealer puts on an act for the tourists, becoming the character that they imagine him to be based on their stereotypes. Barry is like the dealer, in his NYC life he plays the part of an upperclass, financial guy with the perfect wife. His son is hidden most of the time, as is anything that breaks the facade of perfection. A huge part of Barry’s crisis is the burden of trying to maintain this facade.

Seema is also dealing with a similar issue and through her affair she begins to shed her facade of perfection. Trying to maintain this facade has actually destroyed their marriage. They cannot communicate and see it as a failing to not only their son, but to their life in general, if they admit that anything is less than perfect. But the problem actually seems to have existed before their marriage, when they first began to date. Seema had a focus on a type of guy that she wanted to marry and Barry fit the profile. Barry was attracted to Seema’s youth and beauty. They seem to be attracted to the idea of each other, rather than actually to each other. Although Seema’s crisis didn’t take her on a road trip, she experiences a dramatic change in perspective. Her character growth is equal to Barry’s change.

DISLIKE- This is minor, but it did take me about 3-4 chapters to really be gripped by the story. After the slow start, I was hooked. Lake Success has both strong story and character arcs, with a very satisfying pay-off at the end.

RECOMMEND- YES!!! I finished Lake Success in late 2018, but life got in the way, so I am writing this review very late. That said, I cannot stop thinking about Lake Success. It made a huge impression on me. Shteyngart is a fabulous writer who has created a multi-layered story with heart and a lot of wicked humor. I look forward to reading his other works. He’s brilliant!

This book wasn't what I expected in that it happily wasn't too farcical. I liked the alternating points of view. The road trip seemed like middle age male fantasy and there were no major ramifications for Barry's actions. Did Barry learn anything? Did we?

I adore Shteyngart’s ability to make me kind of loathe his characters. It’s not easy to keep a reader’s interest when the reader kinda wants to beat the main guy up. Thank you for giving my brain a bit of a workout, Netgalley!

This is a difficult review to write. Barry Cohen is a detestable individual. I struggled from beginning to end to find a redeeming quality, but he went from depth to depth as he made illegal transactions in his hedge funds, deserted his wife and handicapped soThis is a difficult review to write. Barry Cohen is a detestable individual. I struggled from beginning to end to find a redeeming quality, but he went from depth to depth as he made illegal transactions in his hedge funds, deserted his wife and handicapped son, lied, cheated and stole his way across country. He is delusional and self-pitying. I wanted to like Barry’s wife, Seema or his ex-girlfriend. Finally I was left with Barry’s son, whose character was only revealed by others until the end of this novel.

I could not put this book down. I don’t know whether I was hopeful that there would be a flash of a happily-ever-after for Barry or Seema, or whether I was a looky-loo, waiting for the impending train wreck, but I kept reading to the end. Ultimately, perhaps I was looking to understand the amorality and greed that seems to fuel a certain part of our society.

This was not a feel good book, by any means, but it was a worthwhile read, and totally engrossing.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.n, lied, cheated and stole his way across country. He is delusional and self-pitying. I wanted to like Barry’s wife, Seema or his ex-girlfriend. Finally I was left with Barry’s son, whose character was only revealed by others until the end of this novel.

I could not put this book down. I don’t know whether I was hopeful that there would be a flash of a happily-ever-after for Barry or Seema, or whether I was a looky-loo, waiting for the impending train wreck, but I kept reading to the end. Ultimately, perhaps I was looking to understand the amorality and greed that seems to fuel a certain part of our society.

This was not a feel good book, by any means, but it was a worthwhile read, and totally engrossing.

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

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. I loved Super Sad True Love Story, and this was less surreal but more poised. Despite having some of the least likable characters in literature, this was beautiful. I have never been so enthused to read about watches- and the treatment of disability is interesting and fairly nuanced. I am very sick of inhabiting the minds of middle aged white men, but for Shteyngart I will make an exception.

I kept going, hoping for some sharp satire or insight about our society, but if it’s there I missed it. Frankly, the description of the hedge fund manager protagonist seemed too realistic to be satirical. Perhaps I would have liked the book more if I had never met any hedge fund managers. Just because a book mentions Trump a lot of times doesn’t mean it illuminates our times. After reading a third of the book I didn’t want to spend any more time with these people. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Hmm. It's either a brilliant Candide-esque satire of the clueless wealthy idiots who got us into our current mess (maybe they didn't vote for Trump but they thought about it!, etc) or it's a tone-deaf straight white liberal male asking questions about how we got here. And if you finish a book and wonder which one it is... chances are the answer isn't going to be positive.

Gary Shteyngart is the first of his cohort to bang out a proper Trump-responding novel - although this only tangentially connects to our 45th President, mainly taking place over the 6 or so months leading up to the 2016 election - and while the book displays everything you'd expect from a Shteyngart novel (humor, pathos, lovely sentences), it just feels misguided. Barry, the main character, is too dumb and too naive to truly be engaging and the supporting cast is almost universally reduced to a single if-not-stereotype-then-pretty-damn-close. And everything about Barry's journey reeks of the "how did this happen" series of questions that clueless liberals over the age of 40 have been asking for the last 18 months.

I wish I could've loved this book more - and I'll bet that it'll get a great run of reviews in all the right places, not to mention commercial acclaim. But this was a misguided novel from start to finish and here's hoping it's the only one we have to deal with - because, so help me, once Franzen and Eugenides et al get into the game, we'll deserve everything coming to us.

Well-written and dense with detail, Lake Success had some tender moments and many more disturbing ones. The main character spent over sixty million dollars buying rare wristwatches at auctions. How messed up is that? Overall, the book highlights a lifestyle hard for many readers to identify with.

I don't think 3 stars is an accurate representation of the novel, but I just can't put it in "really liked it" territory because I couldn't stand any of the characters (well, Layla was okay), and so much of it was just unbelievable in premise, to me. I couldn't relate. However, I love reading Shteyngart; I think he is so witty and observational and the flow of the narrative was great. The lasting commentary on wealth and people was great. I loved the read, just not the people in the book.

Gary Shteyngart’s Lake Success is marvelous. A piercing and painful tale of our time told with breathless energy and sardonic humor. This is America in the Age of Trump; the Age of The One Percent. In today’s Land of the Free, a hedge fund manager can lose tens of millions for clients and still be a great success. In the Home of the Brave, a husband and father can abandon his family taking only a priceless watch collection for comfort. Trophy wives keep reputation-destroying videos of their husband’s bad behavior for leverage while pursuing an adulterous affair. An autistic child’s worldview is perhaps the least warped in this disturbed menage. One-percenters live among but never see poorer countrymen with an equally disturbing sense of grievance. There are no Norman Rockwell moments in America anymore.

When a diagnosis of autism cracks the facade of Barry Cohen’s perfect world he strikes off in a parody of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. This time via Greyhound bus starting with a black American Express card (free is the freedom to spend!). In Baltimore, he encounters the surreal mirror of his own life only small scale: everyone is a hustler. Barry hustles investments that aren’t quite real. In West Baltimore, Javon sells drugs while he hustles German tourists who are coming to his neighborhood for an immersive “The Wire” experience. Meet a real drug dealer! Picture with him only $20! Yo! Yo! Yo! Here Barry concocts the first of many crack-pot (no drug pun intended) schemes: outfit every impoverished kid with low-end Rolex watches. Then just step back and watch how watches make them aspirational! Train and hire them in sales--initiates really in the priesthood of Patek-Phillipe, Breitling and Cartier. That an idea so incredibly stupid can make Barry glow with pride tells you how far down the rabbit hole America has sunk. It’s this plausible lunacy that makes Lake Success so spectacular, so thoroughly original. And it’s just the beginning.

Off we go—through Richmond, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Juarez (you knew Mexico had to be part of the story in The Age of Trump), then Phoenix and La Jolla. The characters you encounter along the way are an Americana that rarely receives our attention and shares only one thing in common: not race or religion not ethnicity or values or even language. They are all underclass together. They are marginalized and therefore tribalized. Some simmer with anger. A few cling to dreams that are long since dead but remain unburied. Others keep trudging on. Lake Success is a searing indictment of our illusions but never an angry one. Shteyngart’s own experience as an immigrant struggling to fold himself in creates a real compassion and empathy for the struggle of others. Even Barry, despicable in so many ways is capable of redemption. Shteyngart fans may wonder where this fits in his oeuvre. It is more mature than the inane raucousness of Russian Debutantes Handbook and Absurdistan. It is far more political than Super Sad True Love Story but no less "personal" in that he clearly cares deeply about America's downward spiral. This is a big and a more sprawling version of Little Failure, where he looks at those he loves and tries to make sense of the motley crew.

The humor in Lake Success is often laced with disdain. Paradoxically, the book is also cautiously hopeful we will, in Lincoln’s words, listen to the better angels of our nature. That starts by taking responsibility for ourselves and our families; by understanding life is a burden best shared with others. The greatest of American myths, the lone cowboy is not only a myth, it is an unenviable one. After all that cowboy is, by definition, alone. Who wants to be tha