“I…was sentenced to eight years of Hebrew school for a crime I did not commit” is one of my favorite Gary Shteyngart quotes. Little Failure (what his mother used to call him) was his best book as far as I’m concerned, but I’m barrelling through the Russian-Jewish novelist’s latest treat Our Country Friends, a funny but poignant story about a group of old pals and a famous actor who are locked down together in a Hudson Valley estate during the early pandemic. Secrecy and jealousy eat at the seemingly loyal friends, as the virus encroaches on their safe haven. Some of Shteyngart’s turns of phrase are so funny and on the mark, you’ll bend over laughing.
