For some reason, I delayed cracking open Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan immediately; perhaps the recent, Borat-induced hype surrounding Kazakhstan caused some subconscious hesitation on my part. Either way, when I picked it up, I didn't put it down until I had reached the bleakly hilarious conclusion.

Absurdistan follows the exploits of the Misha "Snack Daddy" Vainberg, "a 325-pound disaster of a human being, son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia." Vainberg, educated in the U.S., finds himself denied a visa and marooned in his native St. Petersburg following his crime lord father's ill-timed murder of an American businessman. His complimentary addictions to booze, prescription drugs, gangster rap and nubile young women barely keep him above water while he malingers through the rubble of post-Soviet Russia. When a lead on a EU passport presents itself in the fictional former Soviet Republic of Absurdistan, Vainberg makes a bee-line for the oil rich nation, only to arrive days before the outbreak of a colossal civil war.

He becomes embroiled in local politics and ultimately finds himself at the crux of an impossibly complex scheme involving Haliburton, ethnic cleansing and of course, the pursuit of the perceived fruits of the American dream.

I give it two hooves up. But, if that's not enough for ya, it was named "One of the 10 Best Books of the Year" by some little rag called The New York Times Book Review.

The trade paperback of Absurdistan, by Gary Shteyngart goes on sale Tuesday, April 3, 2007.