"Vera, or Faith: A Novel" | Reviewed by Bill Schwab

The Bradford-Shmukin family is struggling to stay together in a country falling apart. The family members, composed of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and New England ethnicities, love one another, but their deep ties are unravelling under the pressures of modern-day America.

The protagonist, Vera, is a high-achieving, anxious 10-year-old from Manhattan who narrates the whole story. She reads at a high school level, but her social skills are lacking for a 5^th grader. Shteyngart emphasizes her youthful innocence and her earnest attitude by beginning each chapter with “She had to...” as in “She Had to Survive Recess” or “She Had to Figure Out What Was Going On.”

“Vera, or Faith” is a political novel, taking place in the near future. Everyday life seems normal, except for a greater AI presence and some dystopian laws. For example, the government now monitors the health of women living in or traveling through states where abortion is illegal. In these states, a woman is tested to determine her menstrual cycle stage. The clinician then uploads the test results to a national tracking database.

A proposed constitutional amendment calls for reversing the 1787 Three-fifths Compromise. If passed, it would increase the political power of those white citizens whose roots go back to the founding of the colonies. Their votes would be counted as Five-thirds of a regular vote to ensure white supremacy.

The author softens these nightmarish ideas with barbed, droll comments to convey that the majority of citizens accept as usual what was once considered exceedingly dangerous.

Most of the novel is touching as it follows observant Vera puzzling over the continually changing dynamics at home and school. She asks questions like, “How do you make a friend at school?” “Why won’t my daddy and stepmother talk with me about my birth mother?”  “Why did my birth mother abandon the family when I was only a baby?” “How can I stop my parents’ ceaseless bickering?”

These questions and concerns about human relationships perplex Vera and make her feel ill at ease.

Vera is most happy with things like her AI-powered chess computer, which she calls Kaspie. The pre-adolescent has more real conversations with Kaspie than with either parent. Kaspie listens to her questions and provides helpful answers. The family car, named Stella, has an AI personality too, but it is less intelligent than Kaspie.

Both biting and heart-rending, “Vera, or Faith” is a boldly imagined story of family and country told through the perceptive eyes of a 10-year-old. It’s appropriate that this sensitive child’s name can mean faith or truth.

Throughout the story, there are roaring warning signs about the decline of the nuclear family and the demise of democracy. The twisting of language to gain power by the political party in office is uncomfortably relevant.

“Vera, or Faith” is a 240-page near-parable of the decline of a culture. Original and richly imagined, it is fresh, amusing, and scary. Still, the brief number of pages is all Shteyngart needs to create a sharp-eyed girl proceeding courageously through an absurd world that is entirely believable. I found it to be an engrossing, thought-provoking book.  This Random House publication would be an excellent choice for a book club.

About the author: Gary Shteyngart has won several awards for his previous novels, including the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His novel, “Absurdistan,” was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review. He is read widely, his books being published in 30 countries.

Buy the book.