Life Stories #58: Gary Shteyngart

Gary Shteyngart and his family came to New York City from the Soviet Union when he was a young boy, but their parenting style remained, as he describes it, distinctly Russian. Little Failure isn't just the title of his memoir; it's his mother's actual nickname for him in his 20s--a step up or down, depending on how you look at it, from when his father called him "Soplyak," or "Snotty." In this interview, we talk about how the lonely boy, who grew up to become a confused and angry young man, finally turned himself around... and eventually confronts his hurtful past straight on.