Vera, or, Faith A novel

Vera is an anxious, remarkably self-aware, and verbally gifted 10-year-old living with her father, stepmom, and half brother in Manhattan in Shteyngart's (Our Country Friends, 2021) witty and tenderhearted satirical bildungsroman. Vera does not remember her Korean biological mother, Mom Mom, and often feels left out of the family. She has few friends at school, and her intellect makes her a target of derision. Her only friend may be her AI chessboard, Kaspie. Shteyngart dots the narrative with elements of slightly speculative fiction (Kaspie can do much more than play chess, and the smart cars are very smart). It is a tumultuous time politically. Dad Igor is hoping to sell his struggling magazine to the "Rhodesian Billionaire," and a new voting rights bill has been proposed. The 5/3 law would give citizens who can trace their lineage to the Mayflower more voting power because they have become marginalized. The clever satire, sociopolitical skewering, and nimble wordplay are quintessential Shteyngart. Vera (which means "faith" in Russian) is a wonderfully sympathetic character. This is another winner from a distinctive voice.

A blended family negotiates internal and external tensions in the affecting and lightly speculative latest from Shteyngart (Our Country Friends). At 10, Vera Shmulkin is a sponge for language. She keeps a running journal of phrases spoken by her Russian immigrant father, Igor, a public intellectual and "manfluencer" who worries the family will lose their "merely rich" status in billionaire-friendly New York City if he fails to sell the "once-famous" magazine he's attempting to rehab. Meanwhile, Vera's Boston Brahman stepmother, Anne Mom, leads a resistance group against a proposed constitutional amendment that would supercharge enfranchisement for citizens such as Anne, whose family tree stretches back to the colonial era, but would marginalize Igor and Vera, the latter because her birth mother, Mom Mom, whom Vera never knew, came from Korea. After Igor fails to show at Anne's fundraiser, their fights and Igor's heavy drinking worry Vera, who becomes convinced that her father is a Russian spy. The various plotlines are provocative and clever, but most are underdeveloped save for Vera's determination to track down Mom Mom, which builds to a dramatic climax and satisfying conclusion. Readers will go all in for this story's singular heroine. Agent: Denise Shannon, Denise Shannon Literary. (July)

A brilliant fable about childhood, and so much more, in our broken country. "It was said by both her pediatrician and her psychologist that Vera, while presenting as a very bright ten-year-old, suffered from intense anxiety." Vera Bradford-Shmulkin really does have a lot on her plate for a kid. Among the 23 chapter titles in this slim and explosively lovely novel: "She had to hold the family together." "She had to survive recess." "She had to expand herThings I Still Need to Know Diary." "She had to figure out if Daddy was a traitor." "She had to fall asleep." The novel is set in a delicately constructed near future, with self-driving cars and smart chessboards and a proposed constitutional amendment that will 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 Revolution-ary War but were exceptional enough not to arrive in chains." These are the words of Vera's teacher, who is dividing the class into teams to debate the topic. She makes half-Korean, half-Russian Vera the lead for the pro-Five-Three side, while the opposition will be led by an "exceptional American" type her parents call Moncler Stephen because of his jacket. Winning this debate is another thing Vera has to do, along with getting up the nerve to deliver "Ten Great Things About Daddy and Why You Should Stay Together with Him," and its counterpart, "Six Great Things About Mom" to the parents in question, who fight constantly. This mom is the one she calls "Anne mom," her WASP stepmother Anne Bradford; "Mom Mom," her Korean biological mother, has long been out of the picture and she has never known why. ("She had to find out the truth about Mom Mom.") This book is about so many things: the drama of the gifted child, nativism and immigrant culture ("She had to visit Baba Tanya and Grandpa Boris in the suburbs"), technology and oppression, the role of intellectuals, the way we learn language. As the political situation in the United States evolves, Shteyngart's particular flavor of black humor--Russian wry?--reconnects with its roots in sorrow and resistance and becomes essential and lifesaving. Shteyngart is doing his most important work ever, illuminating the current tragedy with humor, smarts, and heart. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.