Gary and the G

Preliminary thoughts on Vera, or Faith

Last night, I went to the 92nd Street Y where Amor Towles interviewed Gary Shteyngart about his new book Vera, or Faith. Gary walked out carrying what looked like a twisted, polished cane, but which he assured us was in fact called a shillelagh, not that he seemed to need it functionally other than to periodically wave it around for emphasis as he spoke. He was charming and quick witted—every other comment would make me snort. He talked a lot; Amor would barely have to prompt him with a question before he started up again, sometimes launching into a seemingly irrelevant topic for a little while before he made it clear how it tied in. He made an incredible first impression. I had absolutely no idea what his book was about and no frame of reference for who he was as a writer (I had attended this event with my mom who was a fan, but I had admittedly never read anything by him or Amor for that matter).

I spent a long time staring at the cover of the book projected on the screen behind the writers, which showed a doodle of a young girl whose body is a big spiral. Except that the feet at the end of the spiral didn’t line up with the head, so I kept going back and forth with my eyes, tracing the spiral and trying to make it match up even though the book cover designer probably did that on purpose. Or did he?! Was it intentional?! What does it mean?! And why are the curtains blue?! (I cry, shaking my shillelagh).

The book’s interior, on the other hand, was revealed slowly without spoilers as Amor carefully introduced different aspects of it and asked for Gary’s thoughts. And there wasn’t a single unappealing component of it to me. A main character with a multi-ethnic background? Yes, please. A somewhat dystopian version of America? Yes, please. A commentary on AI? Absolutely. The main character is a ten-year-old girl? All in.

It was a lovely, New York day. I got to eat raw fish for both lunch and dinner, and I didn’t have to pay for either meal. I was introduced to Gary, Amor, and Vera. I spent the evening with my mom which always makes my day. And then, of course, New York had to make my day just a little more “New York-y” and test my resilience. I was waiting on the G platform at Court Square (which is the last stop on the line—all G trains go in one direction from there), and a train pulled up. I got on, along with a couple of other people, but strangely, not all of the people waiting on the platform joined. Before I had time to question this, the doors closed behind me, and the train took off…in the other direction. Apparently, I was on an F train, that had somehow infiltrated the G platform just to humiliate people like me, naive enough to let their guard down when it comes to the MTA. Don’t trust trains, unless you’re in Japan.