“Gary Shteyngart spent his first seven years in Russia. It was hard, and tough, and there were many men with mustaches, but there were good team-building exercises for the kids”
So begins this fifteen minute “documentary” on the blurbing prowess of former Heeb 100’er and well-documented dachshund aficionado, Gary Shteyngart. Narrated by Jonathan Ames, the documentary walks a fine line between mocking and begrudgingly celebrating the literary blurb, which has become neer-ubiquitous literary currency of late. Cameos (well, “confessionals”, really) by some of the brightest stars in the literary world serve to both solidify Shteyngart’s place in the upper echelons of the blurbing pantheon, while simultaneously acknowledging, if not outright celebrating, how ridiculous the blurbing ecosystem has become. Shteyngart himself makes an appearance toward the end of the film, admitting his fondness for the blurb he composed for Israeli author Etgar Keret (“better than Leviticus and just as funny”) and ultimately concluding that those he blurbs are people he’d “be happy to be in a hot tub with.”
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