In this book, the writer Sasha and his family (psychiatrist wife Masha and their BTS-obsessed daughter Nat) invite a group of friends to quarantine with them at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The guests include Sasha’s three childhood friends, his old writing student, and a famous actor who is working on a TV show script with Sasha. The heart of this novel is the way in which the characters interact with each other, and particularly how those dynamics shift with the arrival of the famous actor. COVID-19 looms in the background, ever present, not rearing its ugly head until the end. I enjoyed this book by Shteyngart much more than the last one I read by him (Lake Success).

A group of people live together trying to isolate during a pandemic. The premise for this book had such potential but I just couldn’t connect with the characters at all. I was really looking forward to this book but sadly it just wasn’t for me. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This latest from Shteyngart (Lake Success) isn’t the first work of fiction to touch on COVID-19, but it is the most explicit pandemic novel yet. Kicking off during the virus’s uncertain early days, the book concerns a group of family, friends, and lovers who gather at a sprawling bungalow colony to idle away lockdown with food and booze and contend with the inevitable discord that arises as their stay stretches on. After 18 months of inuring ourselves to new normals, Shteyngart’s journey back to the beginning is dizzying, all action bathed in early-pandemic surreality. He details guesswork safety protocols with a light comic absurdity, and his always-bold prose is as strong as ever: In his world, glasses of wine are poured with the “prophylactic aid of an oven mitt.” But as vividly as this novel recalls a dreamlike near-past, it’s reductive to think of it only as pandemic portraiture. The pandemic is more like set dressing for Shteyngart’s usual humanism; his concerns widen to encompass the menace of technology and the ill feeling so often rooted in enduring relationships, romantic or platonic. COVID-19’s most essential role here is as symbol: of division, of isolation, of fear, of living in modern America, but also of overcoming, persisting, surviving.

Our Country Friends is poignant and relevant. It is also beautifully humorous in that it shows all types of people and how friendships, especially long term ones, remain even with their faults and quarrels. Shteyngart greats a situation that feels almost "end of the world" and as if all the people are secluded (perhaps trapped) but each of them is fully willing to be there and can leave at any time. I love the dynamics between all the different people. It reminded me of the character interactions of Liane Moriarty's Nine Perfect Strangers. Everyone is there for a reason, but they all have their own agendas but it just becomes a convoluted mess. And, even though they pretty much all know each other and have for years, they are still practically strangers to one another.

I went in knowing this book would be set during the COVID pandemic but some of this book felt like it was a little too soon. I don’t mind stories with unlikeable characters but I never really connected to any of them throughout the book. While some are calling this the first great pandemic novel, I’m interested to see what else is inspired by these past two years. I’d like to try to read another Gary Shteyngart book to see if I connect with it more.

I loved this concept…. A group of friends/friends of friends head to up state NY to a colony of sorts, to try and wait out the current pandemic. Lots of snark, rich-people problems, romantic entanglements and old grudges emerge. I loved the character of the adopted daughter and her humorous observations, and the dialogue was witty and sharp, but I found it hard to invest in these characters. And sadly the the last quarter of the book felt disconnected. Still, great writing, and worth a read though.

I am of two minds when it comes to Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. On the one hand, there's the scope of what Shteyngart is trying to accomplish - which is admirable and captures a moment in time that is going to define a generation. On the other hand, there's the execution of what readers experience, which comes across as missing the mark a bit. When a writer attempts something Chekhovian in scope, that's a pretty high bar to attempt to reach. And, I feel like there are some sublime moments in Our Country Friends, but the parts do not define the whole.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

I love pandemic books but this one fell short for me. I love the idea- It’s March 2020 and calamity is unfolding. A group of friends and friends-of-friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next six months, new friendships and romances will take hold, while old betrayals will emerge, forcing each character to reevaluate whom they love and what matters most. There is an unlikely cast of characters assembled by Russian-born novelist Sasha senderovsky; his Russian-born psychiatrist wife masha; and Natasha -their precocious child obsessed with K-pop; his HS friend who's a struggling Indian American writer; a wildly successful Korean American app developer; a global dandy with three passports; a Southern flamethrower of an essayist; and a movie star Who is starring in the movie adaptation of Sasha‘s latest book. And whose arrival upsets the equilibrium of this chosen family. It’s supposed to be heartfelt and funny and you know I love stories of groups of friends especially if they’re forced together because of the pandemic. I just found that there were too many characters and I couldn't really settle in. Interesting concept though!

What a great book to read as we are still mired in this pandemic. Sasha had fled NYC with his wife and daughter to ride out COVID-19 at their country house in the Hudson Valley. They are joined by a handful of friends at their commodious estate and then things really get rolling. The book is at times hilarious but also sad -- it's not too soon to read it. I particularly enjoyed this book as I spent most of 2020 hunkered down very close to Sasha!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Galley.

Really enjoyed this timely tale about a group of friends who decide to quarantine together during the first wave. They hole up at a small compound in what seems to be the Hudson Valley with long-time friends and two "wild cards." Personalities clash and meld, secrets are revealed, alliances and romances are formed. An all-around good time.

Our Country Friends had the makings of the Big Chill plus 2020 pandemic story. I like this book and the nuanced characters but it was lacking in connection. The drama was there, but I did't feel for the characters like I wanted to.
I think my expectations were so high for this new Shteyngart book that I set myself up to be let down. I can't put my finger on what was missing, but alas, something was.

Our Country Friends is a satire of how life was during the early stages of the 2020 pandemic. The story follows Sasha, Masha & their daughter Nat as they navigate life during the pandemic with 5 of Sasha oldest friends set in linear time. Good book with complex characters.

Our Country Friends is a unique novel centering on relationships and how they change during the Covid-19 pandemic. The novel is set in upstate New York where a group of eccentric friends gather in a country house and several small cottages to wait out the pandemic. Shteyngart's characters are fascinating and the connections between the lively group are intriguing. A definite must read for book lovers looking for a thought provoking and entertaining story.

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Our Country Friends is a wild romp of a novel; a cultural-examination-through-dramedy with a ton of voice and character. It was a little too soon for me to relive 2020, but I respect what this book did.

For you if: You like stories with all The Drama™️.

FULL REVIEW:

Thank you to Random House for providing me with an electronic review copy of this book! It caught my eye because Salman Rushdie had blurbed it. And while it wasn’t fully comfortable, it’s definitely worth reading.

Our Country Friends is a pandemic novel. Not a pandemic — THE pandemic. It starts in March 2020, when a middle-aged Russian immigrant novelist invites a few of his friends, plus the Actor (who is working to adapt one of his novels) to his “estate” in an unnamed town up the Hudson from NYC. It follows this cast over the course of the following year, where they experience the tension of 2020 — fear of the virus, fear of others, fear for our livelihoods, a racial justice reckoning, the presidential election — as much of us did, at a secluded, disconnected remove.

It’s hard to sum this up succinctly. The book is a dramedy of sorts, a wild romp, written almost stagelike with a lot of voice and humor. But it’s not flip; it’s actually quite uncomfortably on the nose. It makes you laugh but also look at these characters and see yourself in them and remember 2020 and the undercurrent of tension, even for those who were very privileged and sheltered. Really, it’s very impressive.

I recommend this one if you like novels that employ pomp and drama for good reason, and if you aren’t afraid to look back at 2020 yet.



CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
A recounting/reliving of 2020 (lockdown, COVID-19 fear, racial justice protests, election season); Cancer / terminal illness; Light ableism toward a child’s neurodivergence; Marijuana and acohol use

Perhaps I am not clever enough for this book, but I was not feeling this one. I was excited about the premises of friends riding out the COVID-19 pandemic together and the great hijinks and conversations that might appear-however, “Our Country Friends” was rather dense and a bit boring. I had to really push myself to keep continuing this one. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy. 2 stars ⭐️ .

Unfortunately, I did not make it very far before I decided to DNF "Our Country Friends" - I couldn't get past the pandemic coverage, which was presented very tediously through the perspective of dull, insipid characters. Thank you very much to the Publisher and author for this #ARC in exchange for an honest review; this one just wasn't for me.

I'm grateful to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an electronic version of this book. I have read every novel of Gary Shteyngart's and I find that this one is packed with much more nuance than his brash earlier works (although I've loved them all). Set in early pandemic times (roughly spring through fall 2020), this novel follows a loosely-knit collection of friends who have chosen to isolate in a handful of cabins owned by one of the friends on a parcel of land in upstate New York. This novel tells the story of their hookups, breakups, connections, negotiations, and their humanity, but it also examines larger political and social issues in the United States in 2020, including Black Lives Matter, masking, social distancing, social media, and celebrity.

Just as I began to get a little bogged down in the minutiae of the lives of the characters, the novel takes a dark turn, and the tragedy that ultimately draws this story to a close is poignant and, well, appropriate for a pandemic.

what a good book, fun and had all the bits we love. This author is really growing on me. Can't wait for more. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love fiction that straddles the line of being pretentious -- it makes me feel smart enough that I understand what's happening but the prose isn't too dense to the point that I feel like I need a professor to explain it to me. And that's what I got with "Our Country Friends."

A large group of people gathers at a country home to wait out what seems to be something big. Each of the people there knows the hosts, and some know each other. They're trapped as the world falls around them in various ways and as their personal lives seem unable to take a break. They fall in and out of love. teeter on the edge of insanity, and try to understand what exactly it means to care for each other when all you want to do is care for yourself in a world that makes it impossible.

As far as pandemic novels go, this one felt like reading an in-joke retrospective on 2020. I knew what was coming for the characters, even if they didn't. I knew that something had to happen beyond the immense interpersonal drama that comes with living in close proximity to people in various stages of acquaintance. But when it came, I was wholly unprepared for it, just as everyone involved was. So I guess that's a sign that Shteyngart managed to lull me into the same false sense of security as everyone in the novel. Sometimes it felt like he was trying to say some big things about cancel culture, people in crisis, and growing up, but I'm not super sure that all of those landed.

What did land was the last quarter or so of the book. And it landed so hard that my rating is almost solely because of the tears I shed on the final page.

4 stars.

I am a huge fan of Shteyngart, so I was thrilled to read his latest work. One of the first "pandemic novels" to hit shelves, this was both written during the pandemic, and takes place during the pandemic. A group of old friends (plus some extras) gather together at one family's compound to hunker down and quarantine while the world is thrown in complete disarray. Old feelings are rediscovered, New feelings develop. Some character discover that they have feelings at all. Some work gets done. Not too much though.

Written in his trademark specific quirk, Shteyngart takes us yet another emotional journey as we learn to love and hate these people, as they learn to love and hate each other, Highly recommend this one.