For the most part, I had a lot of fun reading "Vera, or Faith" by Gary Shteyngart--the voice of Vera, a preternaturally mature 10-year-old who keeps a "Things I Still Need to Know Diary," is fresh and funny, and Shteyngart's depiction of life in a certain type of New York City household (well-off, educated and progressive media-world parents struggling to keep their lifestyle financially afloat) is spot on and subversively witty. As has been the case in other Shteyngart books I've read, however, the plot takes some strange turns, and the breezy satirical tone from the beginning of the novel breaks down as the story progresses, which is probably a conscious choice mirroring the disintegration of Vera's sense of safety within her family but was disappointing and jarring to me nonetheless. Vera remains a winning presence throughout, however, and it's worth reading "Vera, or Faith" for her voice alone.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Random House for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

This is a much softer satire than we usually see from Shteyngart, He uses Vera, a 10 year old girl with so so many issues, t0 highlight the problems we all face, even if hers are particular to her. He tackles identity, otherness, divorce, politics, and AI (good grief not AI!) in a story than never loses its center or its heart. That's down to Vera, who is well drawn and sympathetic for both her struggles and her hopes. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I liked this more than I thought I would. It's a very good read.

In general, I wish that writers would write children as children and stop falling back on the "precocious child" character that's actually an adult character with less free agency. It makes me think that those writers don't know how to create actual child characters.

Shteyngart is such a good satirist, though, that I'll let him use Vera to mock urban liberal elite vanity while alluding to the darker trajectory of the U.S.'s current political landscape. The immigrant grandparents (both the Russian set and Vera's estranged Korean set) are characterized brilliantly- the similarity of their circumstances with culturally-specific baggage.

AI also plays an entertaining role in moving the plot along. I particularly loved Vera's Korean-made AI chessboard. In addition to teaching Vera chess, it teaches her Korean values and helps her look for her birth mother. It also inspired me to play more chess!

Can a book be both lighthearted and serious? This book hit both of those notes for me. Clearly the topics considered were serious ones - a near future in which a family is struggling to keep itself together. The novel takes on issues of geopolitics and ethnicity, all in a world that is not quite where we are now but it bracingly familiar. However, the story is told from the viewpoint of Vera, a sensitive and observant girl who is just trying to figure things out and fit into her world in the best way possible. I will admit to being a little irritated by all the vocabulary in quotation marks, but I understood the reason for it and I eventually adapted.

Vera, or Faith, really got under my skin. It’s dark and unsettling, but told through the voice of a ten-year-old girl who is just trying to understand the world around her. Vera is neurodivergent, intelligent, and deeply emotional. She’s anxious about her parents splitting up, missing a birth mom she barely knew, and trying to make sense of a country that feels like it's sliding backward.

A lot is going on: AI, a self-driving car, a scary political amendment that hits way too close to home, but it all feels grounded because we’re seeing it through Vera’s eyes. Her diary, where she writes down adult words and phrases she hears, made me laugh and ache at the same time. She wants to be loved, and you really feel that. It’s sad and smart and full of feeling, and even though it goes to some very dark places, I couldn’t stop reading.

Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart is a highly recommended family drama set in the future following a precocious ten-year-old girl in a struggling family.

Ten-year-old Vera is academically advanced, but has intense anxiety and is likely on the spectrum. She is making lists, lists of words, things she needs to know, ways to fit in at school, and reasons to keep her family together. The members of the Bradford-Shmulkin family, composed of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and blue blood New England heritage, is falling apart. Daddy is Russian and Jewish and a struggling editor. Vera is Korean, Russian and Jewish. Her mom-mom left her and Daddy is raising her along with Anne-mom, a blue blood New Englander. Their son, Vera's half brother, is Dylan. The family all love each other, but they all seem to be struggling, and Daddy and Anne-mom are fighting all the time.

This short, well-written story is set in an alternate future there are self-driving cars, AI chess sets, a controversial proposed constitutional amendment, and unrest in the country. The focus is on Vera while she is trying to make sense of her life and the narrative is told through her point-of-view. She doesn't always understand what she hearing, but she is a sympathetic character and you will wish the best for her and her family.

Vera, or Faith is a good choice for those who enjoy Shteyngart's writing and a novel that unfolds through the eyes of a child. Thanks to Random Hose for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart

I’m a fan of Shteyngart’s and Vera, or Faith is a lovely book. Vera is a bright 10 year old living in New York City who attends a special public school for exceptionally students. She has her future mapped out—she’s going to be a “woman in STEM.” She also keeps lists. One list is of words she’s heard that she wants to learn. Her others list the best qualities of each of her parents (her father—a Russian immigrant with leftist politics who is trying to keep his left-leaning magazine afloat and her mother—actually, her step-mother but the only mother she’s ever known) to show to the other parent in an effort to keep her battling parents together.

Vera believes it is her responsibility to save her family and that if she fails they will be homeless and lost.

An unusual child, it seemed to me that Vera would fit on the autism spectrum, with her hand flapping and severe social awkwardness (her stepmom is training her in how to function in social situations which sometimes only serves to make Vera more self-conscious and confused than she already is—on the other hand, she certainly seems to need help as she feels like an outsider and is bullied by some of the more popular girls).

Vera wonders if her stepmom doesn’t prefer her younger brother, the mother’s biological son. She also wonders and worries about her father’s professional reputation and finances. As a reader, I had a very different perspective on the father Vera adores but the way the relationship and his role (in Vera’s life and that of the rest of the family—as well as professionally) was interesting and surprising.

Shteyngart writing is fluid, beautiful, and thoughtful. His characters are vivid and engaging—I cared very much about this child and her future but all the characters were strongly depicted.

The novel is often funny with an underlying sadness that engulfed me at the end. However, although I felt sad, I did not feel hopeless. Not with the possibility of a future with people like Vera and the people who love her as they all work to create a world filled with the possibility of that love.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. Book to be published July 8, 2025

I enjoy stories told from the perspective of children who are often precocious. Ten year old Vera stole my heart from the start. It was heartbreaking to feel her anxiety believing she’s been abandoned by her birth mother, anxious that her parents would get a divorce and her second mom would abandon her. I couldn’t quite figure out her parents, disliked them , especially her father. Vera does figure them out eventually as she struggles to come to grips with her relationships and desperately tries to find her birth mom. It was heartbreaking to feel the stress of this little girl, as she struggles to make a friend and is made fun of at school. Heartbreaking as she shakes and shakes her hands until she can think of something else as she suffers through recess. Vera’s “Things I Still Need to Know Diary” will make you laugh and cry at the same time as she records vocabulary words and phrases she hears from the adults around her as she tries, but doesn’t always succeed in putting them in the right context .

There is a bit of AI and a self driving car . There’s a commentary on democracy, scary and feeling much too relevant like it could have been out of today’s news. There is an upcoming constitutional amendment vote in the states to “decide whether to give “an enhanced vote” counting for five thirds of a regular vote to so-called “exceptional Americans, “ those who landed on the shores of our continent before or during the Revolutionary War, but were exceptional enough not to arrive in chains.” Relevant to Vera as she is Korean American and in a school debate she has to take the side for the amendment. Bottom line is that in spite of the quirks and turns in the story line, Vera is a force of nature, and really just a kid who wants to be loved and I couldn’t help but love her .


I received a copy of this book from Random House through NetGalley

The story presents the complexity of the world through the thoughts of a precocious ten year old. The tangled emotions and affections between parent and child, the budding sexual awareness, the messiness of identity, and the all too possible ridiculousness of our political future (this book boarders on being a horror when it comes to the future). It is a tender, scary, and hopeful tale tinged with sorrow.

Vera, or Faith is another great book from Gary Shteyngart—funny, sad, and very on the mark. Told through the voice of ten-year-old Vera, the novel captures the disintegration of both a family and a nation with a style that feels very relevant to today’s political and cultural climate. The book balances satire and genuine emotion, and you'll enjoy it if you've enjoyed Shteyngart's other books. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC!

very interesting and well-done modernist literary novel with some interesting vibes. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

I have read most of Gary Shteyngart's books... he is very good at writing contemporary characters that are full of humanity and color. In Vera, or Faith he is somehow able to embody a neurodivergent 10 yr old girl who is trying to make sense of her family, her school, her community and her world at a time that seems dystopian and yet not that far removed from our current state. I felt as if we were along side Vera and all of her challenges. Excellent read, especially those who enjoy fiction with social commentary.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to have an ARC.

Though I wanted to like this book, it was not for me. Because it is told from the viewpoint of a young girl, the language was awkward to me. There were too many demographic and ethnic groups trying to get air time in the novel. I think for me it just might have been the wrong book at the wrong time. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

In a dystopian near-future, all is not well with the Bradford-Shmulkin family. The father, a somewhat well-known intellectual, is hoping to sell his struggling magazine. His wife is from a well-established family and frequently finds her husband exasperating. They have two children: Vera, the father’s daughter from an earlier relationship, and Dylan, their child together.

Sensing that her parents are drifting apart, Vera takes it upon herself to keep them together, all while trying to learn more about her birth mother and fit in at school at a time when the broader society seems to be coming apart.

This is a typically insightful and wryly funny novel from this author. Through Vera’s sharp, but still young, eyes, the book deftly portrays how the struggles of fitting in remain universal even amidst of a society that is undergoing significant change.

Highly recommended.

Vera, or Faith is about a very precocious but charming 10 yo girl growing up in Manhattan among challenging, funny, and sad family dynamics. Vera reads at a 9th grade level, sees everything, feels everything and wants things, including herself, to be perfect. Or at least worthy of Swarthmore. Growing up with a “famous” leftist father and a well-meaning but brittle WASP stepmother and doofus step-brother, Vera seeks to navigate several cultures, shaky parenting, and, worst of all, mean girl schoolmates. This novel is lively, touching, and fast moving and I can’t imagine anyone who has lived in New York or had parents or awkward schoolyard interactions not liking it.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Vera, or Faith.

I've never read this author before though I've heard of him.

I'm not a fan of novels narrated from a child's perspective; that's a very difficult POV to write from.

I liked Vera, her inner thoughts, her inability to understand idioms and metaphors, perhaps because of her cultural background.

I didn't like the narrative which was focused on racial injustice and the inequities of the political and social climate, not unlike what we're living through now.

I read to escape, to imagine, to learn, and I found parts of the narrative difficult to read, mostly because I didn't understand the point.

If the narrative had focused on Vera seeking her bio mom, making friends, spending time with her beloved aunt, navigating her own insular world and trying to understand her place in it, that would have worked.

But the complexities of her parents' issues coupled with the social and political climate Vera is growing up in and her biracial background made this a confusing read.

What's the takeaway? What am I supposed to learn from this? What is the author trying to say?

The writing style was okay, but that might be due to Vera's POV.

Not sure I'll read this author again.

Marital strife, political intrigue, precocious adolescents, chess robots and dystopian hellscape one step away from our own reality - this book has it all and is a masterfully written account of one child's take on the personal, national and global crisies that surround her.

I was unable to finish reading this book - I felt like the narration was obviously an adult trying (poorly) to inhabit the mind of a child, and that took me out of the reading experience. There were many aspects to Vera that I should have connected with, but was unable to due to the writing style.

Great writer but I really could not get into this story. Thanks for the opportunity to read but it was just not for me. Good Luck with the boo.

I love Gary Shteyngart's dark humor and cultural commentary masquerading as fiction. I still think about his 2011 novel "Super Sad True Love Story" and the way it satirized credit ratings and social media. So I approached his latest book, "Vera, or Faith," with high expectations. Our protagonist, Vera, is a precocious New York City 10-year-old who feels the weight of the world -- or at least her father's second marriage -- on her shoulders. For the first third of the novel, I feared the material was so dark that there might never be a note of sufficient humor or lightness to keep me interested. But the final section of the story delivered enough of that to redeem the project, I think. Shteyngart's bleak worldview is perhaps harder than usual to spend time with, given the state of *waves arms around wildly at 2025* but it's probably more important than ever. Here he's questioning, among other things, our obsession with AI, the intersection of media and money, and who counts as American.