Blog Entry 1

Entry on Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart

 

     Little failure was a very detailed memoir that introduced me to a completely different style of writings, which made the start to freshman English an intriguing one. I have not read a memoir previous to Shteyngart's story, and although not the most exciting read, I enjoyed the analysis of the text and being able to isolate fact from fiction throughout the book, due to the authors constant need to lie and exaggerate at every available opportunity. Most pieces of literature I have experienced were cut and dry, which allowed true and false statements to be identified quickly. With Little Failure, he likes to mix the truth with lies, and the only true way to find the truth is to see if he accidentally contradicts himself throughout the text, thus the reader being able to "catch him" in a lie. I had many questions while reading, such as why the author would choose to write his life story if there were aspects he didn't wish to share with the world. Most authors don't choose to write about themselves if they have things to hide, and that just made me question why the author would choose to speak about subjects publically that he wasn't comfortable with. I think that the exaggerations make the story more interesting granted, but there were many events dating back to the author's early years that seemed nearly impossible that he would be able to remember, such as his years before even moving to America, the clothes and toys he had, and even the reactions he had. If the author was younger these events could easily be accurate, but at his age, his memory has to come into question. Overall, I don't think it is a book I would recommend, but also one that I didn't mind reading.