Still Here

When Vica, a Russian immigrant, brings her son to take an entrance exam for an elite Manhattan high school, she observes the other parents: “You could easily divide them into two categories: Susan Sontag types and Outer Borough types.” Such discernments reflect Vapnyar’s (Memoirs of a Muse) hilarious and weighty insights as she explores familiar yet endlessly fascinating territory: the banalities of American life through the lens of Russians who may not think coming to the U.S. was actually the best choice. In this novel, Vica, who was a promising medical student in Moscow but now works as a sonogram technician, is one of four main characters. Her husband, Sergey, who has been “steadily losing his looks for the last year or two,” is fixated on creating an app he hopes will make him rich and redeem his general mediocrity. The app, a potential gold mine, as well as the inherent loneliness of social media, is a powerful theme throughout the book, as Vapnyar writes convincingly about technology’s impact on her characters, offering a brilliant critique of it. As Vica and Sergey’s marriage unravels, the book also explores their friendship with two other Russians: Vadik, a lonesome computer programmer, and Regina, who had been a highly sought-after translator in Russia but whose American life has left her despondent and watching lots of TV. The novel provides a lively view of a group of friends navigating their early 40s, juggling mistakes of their past and trying to remain hopeful about the future. Once again, Vapnyar illustrates her incredible ability to create rich and entertaining narratives. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (Aug.)