Gary Shteyngart is known for his humor, but this novel is more serious than funny. Vera is the daughter of a Russian immigrant man and a Korean woman. She is of genius level intellect, but anxious and an insomniac. Her mother, referred to as Anne Mom to differentiate her from her real mother known as Mom Mom. Vera has a younger brother who is her half-brother and a real pain. Feeling unloved by Anne, Vera envies Dylan who is blond and cute. Vera takes on responsibility to keep her parents' marriage together. She is also desperate to find a friend.

Though not quite science fiction, the story takes place in what appears to be the near future in a post-Trump America. Feminism is over and the MOTHS march in favor of allowing women to count as three-fifths of a vote. There are some interesting technical developments like a kind of AI chess-playing board made in Korea. Cars are auto-driven and also verbal who mirror the wording of their drivers/owners.

I fell in love with Vera for all her problems and followed her thought processes with delight and interest.

My thanks to Random Huse and Net Galley for offering me the ARC of this novel.

VERA, OR FAITH centers around sweet, precious and sensitive Vera, who is well-cultured and wise beyond her ten years of age, is determined to find their birth mother while keeping her parents together. It's a story about family and fitting in mixed with a sharp commentary on politics. Smartly written and makes for a quick read.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

<I>Vera, or Faith</I> is Gary Shteyngart’s sixth novel. <i>Our Country Friends</i> may be funnier and <i>Lake Success</i> may contain more acerbic cultural commentary. But sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page, <i>Vera, or Faith</i> is arguably Shteyngart’s best: it never bags, meanders, drags, or loses focus. Shteyngart commands his plot and his characters throughout, and surprises us at the end.

Shteyngart channels the mind and behavior of ten year old Vera Bradford-Shmulkin. Vera is smart, unhappy, worried about her parents’ marriage, and socially awkward. Her favorite book, which she reads at school recess, is <i>The Chess Player’s Bible</i> and her favorite companion is Kaspie the Chess Computer. At school, she’s humiliatingly teased as <i>”Facts Girl.”</i> She keeps and regularly updates three lists: <i>”Ten Great Things about Daddy and Why You Should Stay Together with Him”</i>; <i>”Ten Great Things about Mom and Why You Should Stay Together with Her”</i>, later edited to Six Great Things. . .; and <i>”Things I Still Need to Know Diary.”</i>

Vera is the daughter of Igor, a Russian emigre and editor of a no longer successful intellectual journal. She thinks of her disappeared Korean-American biological mother as Mom Mom, and her step-mother as Anne Mom. Igor and Mom Mom met in the <i>”the College of Fading Repute in the ‘great state of Ohio’”</i> (AKA, Oberlin), and Mom Mom abandoned Vera shortly after birth. Anne Mom <i>”had been born ‘Ann’ but added the <b>e</b> to her name after reading the <b>Diary of Anne Frank</b>”</i>.

Vera narrates the truth as she understands it. All we learn in <i>Vera, or Faith</i>, we learn from her ten year old’s perspective. The lacunae in what we learn are not because Vera is an unreliable narrator, but because she is a reliable ten year old with a ten year old’s limited understanding of the world. Only in the final chapters of <i>Vera, or Faith</i> do we come to understand more about Vera’s dystopian world than she tells us: the subjugation of women, the elevation of white evangelical Christians, and the hard divide between states.

There are no minor characters in <i>Vera, or Faith</i>, but there are characters whose roles in Vera’s life sometimes recede sometimes dominate. There’s Stella the Car, with her weirdly off-key comments, such as <i>”Enjoy the simulacrum of actual learning”</i> as Stella arrives at school. There’s Kaspie the Chess Computer, Vera’s AI-powered chessboard, whose role ping-pongs between playing level-appropriate chess with Vera to dispensing giver questionable life advice. Finally, there’s the beloved Aunt Cecile, Anne Mom’s roommate at Brown.

<i>Vera, or Faith</i> is an excellent addition to the American canon of dystopian fiction. Sinclair Lewis’ <i>It Can’t Happen Here</i>, Louise Erdrich’s <i>Future Home of the Living God</i>, and Celeste Ng’s <i>Our Missing Hearts</i>, fine novels all, need to make room on the shelf for Gary Shteyngart’s <i>Vera, or Faith</i>. With her age-limited viewpoint, we come to a better understanding of how authoritarianism can softly creep in and overtake American society.

Five stars

I would like to thank Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy.

So thrilled to be granted an early copy of the latest from Gary Shteyngart, one of my absolute favorite observers of the world condition. As seen through the eyes of a precocious ten-year-old, who, by virtue of being half Korean half Jewish, is herself is an example of the new order, we are jettisoned into the crazy society of today. As with Rosencranz and Guilderson, we only hear half truths eavesdropped and only half understood, and are ourselves prone to misinterpretations. While I usually don't take to accounts related by youngsters created by adults, since it's Shteyngart, it proves worthwhile.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ebook. Such a delightful comic novel set slightly in the future where America’s divides become a little more ingrained. We follow Vera, a top grade school student who is half Korean and half Russian and is growing up with a New England WASP stepmother and half brother. Sensitive Vera, who is constantly add words to look up, wants her parents to stay married (unlikely), make a friend (more likely) and try and find and meet her Korean birth mom. A fast and funny book that was surprisingly moving by the end.

I’m a huge Shteyngart fan—books, articles, and of course, his Twitter/X feed. "Vera, or Faith" delivers his trademark wit, humor, pacing, and imagination, set in a near future that feels closer every day. A page-turning social satire (not an easy feat!) with sharp commentary reminiscent of Tom Wolfe at his best. Told from the POV of Vera, a fully realized and deeply sympathetic child, the story carries emotional weight. Thank you for sharing the galleys—I truly appreciate it!

A beautiful story about belonging and and fitting in within your family. I loved this exploration from a child's point of view. The story is creative and well written. I was captivated. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Oh Boy….Gary Shteyngart fans are in for a humongous treat!!!!
And if you’re not a fan ….you will be after reading “Vera, or Faith”.

A little about the author (for newbies)….
….Ha….for professional lovers of Shteyngart too!
Gary Shteyngart was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the United States seven years later. His debut novel,
‘The Russian Debutante’s Handbook’, (a book I loved), won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His second novel,
‘Absurdistan’, (a book that I laughed my ass off) was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review. His novel ‘Super Sad True Love Story’ (another fabulous novel) won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and became one of the most iconic novel of the decade …. I agree. I love the book so much that I still have my hardcopy from years ago sitting on my ‘special shelf’ of ‘loved’ books.
His memoir ‘Little Failure’ (sooooo good), was a National Book Critics Award finalist. His book ‘Our County Friends’ was a New York Times best seller and his books have been published in 30 countries.
And now….”Vera, Or Faith” …
It might be my all-time favorite Shteyngart novel (I love them all) … If it doesn’t win an abundance of awards … I’ll eat my hat! (it’s the perfect book for our times today)
It’s soooooo ENJOYABLE!!!….(the warmth & humor alone is healing) ….
“Vera, Or Faith” is sooooo adorable, clever, substantially, relevant and meaningful, endearing, sweet, thought-provoking… and oozing with love! (256 pages - one sitting- fiction - delight).

Meeting the character, Vera Bradford-Shmulkin (ten-year-old protagonist), was pure joy!
Bright, curious, puzzled, tender-hearted, consciously thoughtful & sensible, this child doesn’t miss a beat …
Nothing gets unnoticed by Little Ms. Meticulous-Eagle-eyed!
After all …..
…..she has a lot of things to figure out - to learn - to understand. Vera is very serious about her “Things I Still Need To Know Diary” ….. (paying close attention- even spying if necessary is vital)….
For example…..Vera didn’t understand why Blacks and Jews who probably couldn’t trace their heritage to the Revolutionary War, would be at the marches [March of Hatred] …..
“but what really broke her heart, (a phrase from a book she read last year, which made her imagine the left and right ventricles lying on one side and the left and right atriums on the other pinning desperately for one another) were the teenagers and even younger white kids, marching in their dirty mechanic’s and farm overalls with the sign ‘THEY HAVE TAKEN MY FUTURE AWAY FROM ME’”.
……Also …..
Vera would like to explore more about her MomMom ….
(Vera assumes she was a bad baby) ….
Vera needed to figure out more details about her Daddy….(was he a traitor)….but? …. his best friend was a self-described gay Russian bear….(hm? nothing adds up)….
Vera just couldn’t figure out life (WHO COULD?)….

“Vera, or Faith” permeates CHARM ….and relevancy ….
Wonderful characters….
We meet Ms. Tedeschi ….(Vera’s school teacher who wears pretty sun-dresses even in the winter)….
We meet Vera’s best friend: Yumi Saemonsaburou.
Vera thought she was “so lucky” to have the longest Japanese name on record..

We meet her brother, Dylan, Aunt Cecile, etc….
And other students at school, (participating students who would be doing a historical ‘Lincoln-Douglas’ debate from 1858 when both Lincoln and Douglas were vying for the Illinois Senate seat.
We even meet the tantalizing-speaking family car named Stella (an autonomous self-driving car)….and many other memorable characters……..but nobody had my heart like half Jewish, half Korean, genuinely real and lovable VERA.

“Something absolutely bonkers happened” . . . (shhhhh)

Great - great - great!!

Vera is such a delightful and endearing character. I was completely invested in her wellbeing and was hanging on her every thought.

This is the author at his finest. I admire the way he blends satire, marital drama, parenthood, politics, and a sprinkling of dystopia all in one highly entertaining novel. Moving and marvelous!

Thank you very much to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.