19 Comments
Jun 17, 2022Liked by Gary Shteyngart

Subscribed! Hope you have a good time. I’m heading to Germany for my 50th in August! I think I can maintain the moderate drinking level.

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Yeah, good luck with that!

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Jul 31, 2022Liked by Gary Shteyngart

I’m here under Melber’s recommendation, You, DID NOT DISAPPOINT…You owe Him a drink.

Thank You for allowing Us to tag-along/incognito—for Those of Us that haven’t flown in more than a decade, but miss seeing the terrain!

Please do not feel exposed by Your predilection to view things through the prism of “shlongs”—my “members” bring forth eggs and trauma monthly like Stigmata…They cry tears of blood.

Maybe that drink should be anything other than a Bloody Mary?

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Jun 19, 2022Liked by Gary Shteyngart

This should be fun, Gary!

Our Country Friends was great, would love you sharing any 'background' / cut portions of that on here someday ...if it doesn't compromise your artistic sensibility and mystique : )

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Thanks for the support, Ari! And, yeah that's a great idea. Not sure Our Country Friends has too many outtakes but my novel Lake Success had an entire chapter about the main character's father which I deleted (and then killed off the father). Will try to find and post.

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Jun 19, 2022Liked by Gary Shteyngart

Very good schlong story with that tension between hilarious Jewish humor and the wait a minute this is beyond the pathetic, why am I laughing over such pathos...

I wonder if your boldly presented revelations about biology might suggest why many Jewish men and circumcised gentile men grew to desire anal sex with men once they could get away with it socially. Not sure I understand the biology from the man's point of view but you are revealing that normal intercourse between male and female is much better with an uncircumcised "member" because it takes the man longer to reach orgasm. Better for the woman. More frustrating for the man who has to take longer to climax? The story did not suggest that. Are there more limp circumcised or more limp uncircumcised dicks? The fact that some male babies are maimed by the terrible surgery, and some babies die, is ALSO like a hushed sectet. Aparently the idea about hygiene was just a half truth to motivate people to keep the practice going. Who in capitalist society benefited from couples, especially the hetero female part of a couple, spending fewer happy hours together? The manager at the 19 c English or American factory, the one with the whip. Work work work til you die. Make babies for the work force. Happiness is for children, and only for some.

As for why African tribes that practiced female circumcision and the ancient Hebrews would have wanted sex to be less pleasurable for the woman, well that's kind of obvious in such a patriarchal world. Clearly the not-Moslem Africans did not want less pleasure for the man. In fairness to ancient peoples and tribal peoples though, and in fairness to the wisdom in ancient religious texts, the main thrust was to keep the tribes alive and healthy and this was possible through belief in acts of God. God killed off the enemies and potential enemies of the clinically selected few, ie the descendants of the children of Abraham's wife Sarai, and secondly, keeping healthy procreating and thriving tribes allegedly occured through the actions of circumcised hearts. Early Christians and later zealous believers might say the action of a circumcised heart, ie of the one who willingly went to the cross. I have known of adult evangelical men who have gotten the deed done. That foolishness hits on many levels.

Thank you for the revelations but sorry for your sufferings

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Wow, this comment has EVERYTHING! Thanks.

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Jun 19, 2022Liked by Gary Shteyngart

Have lived a long time and spent most of this particular life thinking too much. Trying to share that pent-up energy now in old age. Glad you "liked".

I should have said this before:. Thank you for putting your story and the bigger story out there.

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Love the idea of a one-person stage version, but also slightly intrigued by Botched! The Musical. Probably. Any chance you’re coming over to London?

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Okay, might have to steal that from you. No London plans yet, but stay tuned.

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Wouldn't 4 drinks bring you to 16?

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What am I, a mathematician?

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Jun 17, 2022Liked by Gary Shteyngart

This feels dirty reading your diary Gary, like we found it under your bed. Enjoy Ireland, how great is the soda bread ?

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Half my weight is soda bread at this point.

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Jun 18, 2022Liked by Gary Shteyngart

I think Ireland’s incredible contribution to the worlds of poetry and story telling can be directly linked to soda bread, and Guinness

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Looking forward to these! Funny about Bono. Maybe even funnier if he wasn’t Bono.

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I have been reading your FB posts so thought I would hop on here to get more of your journey! I loved you book “Our Country Friends.” It left me with a lot of questions though! Enjoy your tour through Europe!😊

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I love random group sushi dinners (RGSDs in the industry). Hope we run into each other next time I'm out in LA hustling.

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Exactly.

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