In each of his five previous novels, which include The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Lake Success, Gary Shteyngart has delivered consistently high-quality fiction while avoiding the curse of predictability. Vera, or Faith brilliantly inhabits the consciousness of a young girl to produce a story of family and friendship that pleasingly engages the mind as it slowly insinuates its way into the heart.
Shteyngart's protagonist, precocious, charming 10-year-old Vera Bradford-Shmulkin, lives with her Russian-born father, Igor, a magazine editor; her "Tradwife" stepmother, Anne Bradford (known to her as Anne Mom); and her annoying younger stepbrother, Dylan. She aches to reunite with her Korean birth mother, Mom Mom, who she's been told abandoned her and Igor and who she believes is dying of cancer. Vera acts as something of a mediator for her parents, and must survive in the status-conscious hothouse that is her upscale elementary school, where she's tagged with the nickname "Facts Girl." But above all, she longs for friendship with classmates like Yumi, who becomes her debate partner.
Vera, or Faith takes place in a United States roughly a decade removed from the Covid-19 pandemic that has undergone some disturbing changes. The states are in the process of considering a constitutional amendment known as "Five-Three" that will grant an enhanced vote to Americans like Anne Mom whose ancestors arrived during or before the Revolutionary War (and were "exceptional enough not to arrive in chains").
Combining deep humanity with Gary Shteyngart's customary intelligence and wit, Vera, or Faith is a reminder of why he's a writer whose works are good ones to keep close at hand in challenging times. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer