As I read the conclusion of this book, which is super sad, I could not help but think that Lenny was better off without Eunice.  It seemed like the two of them were happy together and that maybe they had been in love, but I think Lenny was very confused.  In the society where there is such an emphasis placed on youth, Lenny, a 40 year old dorky guy, was in dire need to revitalize his youth.  He found Eunice and held onto her because she made him feel young.  From the very begginging we noticed how Lenny was trying hard to change himself to be more appealing to Eunice.  Although the process of losing Eunice to Joshie was heartbreaking and very difficult, it was good for Lenny that Eunice is gone.  To Lenny, Eunice was the equivalent of a mid life chrisis, and when she left it was like Lenny finally saying goodbye to his youth.  Throughout the entire book Lenny struggles with his age and tries different things to make himself feel younger.  Really he is just struggling with the change. His life is changing and instead of embracing his age he resists it by bringing Eunice into his life.  The sooner that Lenny gets over losing Eunice, the sooner he can begin another stage of his life.

After having finished the novel, I was surprised at how different this novel was from all the other dystopian novels I have read. While books like The Hunger Games, Fahrenheit 451, or The Handmaid's Tale to name a few, have all been centralized around the conflicts present in the dystopian society, and the characters are used as foils to reveal the flaws in the super-controlled world, Super Sad True Love Story has the dystopian society as more of a backdrop and centralizes around the characters. Lenny's story is the focal point of the novel that acts as a mechanism to demonstrate the effect of the society on real people. This is different from other dystopian works, as Katniss becomes the mockingjay symbol of the rebellion against the Capital, or Offred is used to show how the society exploits women. It was a nice change from the other novels, because Lenny and Eunice were well developed and multi-dimensional. Suzanne Collins develops the characters and unravels an intricate plot, although she did have three books in which to work. Overall, I enjoyed the novel. It was definitely engaging and entertaining, sometimes a little bit strange. It was definitely super sad, but also funny and charming as well.

As Jesse and Jack both mentioned, as the story has progressed, dystopian themes have become increasingly apparent. While at first I was surprised by the speed at which the U.S. seems to be deteriorating in the story (what with the riots, and economic slide, and declaration of no confidence from the Chinese Central Banker, etc.), upon reflection that speed seems fairly reasonable. The roots of the economic and political problems the U.S. is facing seem to have been around for some time, and oftentimes in our own world the really visible changes or conflicts happen rather quickly (for example, the Arab Spring). The deterioration and rebellion presented in this book also reminded me a bit of the Arab Spring in terms of the role that the army (or National Guard) plays in these uprisings (as it’s rather unclear if  their all working for the same people, or whose side their actually on).

I also agree with Jack that the focus on consumerism in this society serves as a distraction to people, allowing them to ignore the U.S.’s problems until it is too late to solve anything. While people do seem aware of politics to some degree, (such as Lenny’s parents who support Rubenstein), and while politics does play somewhat of a prominent role in the Media (such as Noah’s friend Hartford Brown’s politically commentary show (which he mixes with video of himself having sex)), normal citizens seem removed from the political process itself, content to discuss or critique policy in a shallow way as opposed to really trying to change it. In some ways, this behavior is not too dissimilar to current behavior in America—though many people voice their opinions on politics with friends or family, fewer actually bother to do anything to create change or become part of the political process. In the story, though, this attitude has been projected into the future, and the result of this seems to be that the U.S. government no longer represents the people, but is rather a sham, and is simply lead by one person, Defense Secretary Rubenstein. 

In one of the more recent readings, Eunice finally met Joshie. At first, Eunice was reluctant to meet Lenny’s boss, partially because of the bad experiences she has had with Lenny’s other friends. When we first see Joshie at his apartment, he comes off a pretty creepy. His apartment, like Lenny’s, is covered in references to older times— while Lenny has books and old furniture, Joshie has science fiction posters and old trinkets. But for Joshie these things mean something different. Lenny seems to ever linger in the past, while Joshie’s old objects, from his own youth, almost seem to have a vintage or trendy appeal: taking the past out of context and making it cool. And this is essentially Joshie’s appeal to Eunice: he is a man who is biologically older than Lenny, yet takes himself out of context, and is continually getting younger through more advanced technology. He is almost aging in reverse, which makes his real age a factor that one can almost overlook. But the scarier thing is that Eunice seems to be attracted to Joshie. She appreciates his charm and his “fun”. I think this is because Joshie symbolizes to Eunice the modern re-vamp of Lenny. Joshie is what Lenny would be if he were motivated enough and had enough money. It makes sense that Lenny would want to be like Joshie: he looks up to him as a role model and a friend. Eunice seems to be almost more attracted to Joshie than Lenny now, and I am worried that she might act on these feelings only to find that Joshie is actually only superficially charming, and that Lenny is the one she really wants.

Jesse, I too am very curious to see how the novel will conclude.  It has been interesting to see how as Lenny and Eunice’s relationship has grown the United States has deteriorated further. Another aspect of the dystopian society that I have noticed that is very prominent is the attention placed upon consumerism in the United States that seems to be a distraction to the fact that the United States is struggling badly on a global front.  We notice that there is so much materialism and emphasis placed on media and social media in this future society, but there is a complete lack of knowledge about foreign affairs.

Throughout the course of the book I have wondered what it is that Eunice, a young vibrant person, sees in Lenny, the clueless middle aged man.  It wasn’t until a read one of Lenny’s recent diary entries that it hit me.  Lenny says, “The family was eternal… Perhaps I was I who had been remiss, in not caring enough for Eunice, in not correcting her when she ordered garlicky sweet potato fries or drank a milkshake without the requisite vitamin boost.” Now remembering that Eunice’s family has had problems with their father, it was clear to me that Eunice is attracted to Lenny because she sees him as a father figure.  Lenny, as seen in this quote, makes it his responsibility to take care of Eunice.  Eunice, who has never had a steady father figure, is more than willing to accept him.

As I've continued reading, I've found the novel to be stranger, but also more relevant in terms of its dystopian themes. As the book has progressed, more of the immigration themes have come to the surface, as well as the United States' foreign policy. It has become evident that there is a serious conflict in Venezuela. The fact that this conflict even exists suggests how far down in the spectrum of world powers the U.S. has fallen for a war between the two countries to even be a fight. (Now, the U.S. would completely obliterate a third world country such as Venezuela). Additionally, the extremities of the immigration policies are definitely relevant, as immigration is such a pressing issue today. It is conceivable that our country could become overpopulated due to immigration. Illegal immigration has become one of politician's top issues, so the way Shteyngart depicts the situation, with the otters, and deporting based on credit, is very interesting. I am eager to see how the story climaxes, as the end is supposedly super sad. Lenny and Eunice's love story has been funny and sweet so far. I wonder how the dystopian themes will affect their lives.

While reading Super Sad True Love story I noticed concerning similarities between this society and our own society today.  Although things like the aparat, GlobalTeens, and the far-fetched society norms rushing in with the youth culture seem outlandish, they are in many ways similar to the elements of the new era of technology that we are experiencing. I found that the extremes that are reached in the book to be quite funny. I really liked the point that Wesley made about Lenny carrying the fire for the ways of the old society.  Lenny feels disconnected from the youth culture and fears he has aged out of being "cool" or"hip."  It is only worse for him that the woman that he supposedly has fallen in love with happens to be deeply rooted in the new culture. This new culture has many problems.  First of all there is a complete lack of privacy, and not to mention that the societal attitude towards sexuality has completely changed so that now sex is not a private matter.  This society is completely dominated by the emphasis on youth.  Similar to how our society is evolving into a place where aging is looked down upon, in Super Sad True Love Story youth is emphasized even more.

I agree with Anna, and found I had many similar reactions. The way in which the societal norms are constructed in SSTLS is so absurd that it's comical. The cool, hip thing to do is to actually converse using instant messaging abbreviations, as Eunice does with Lenny. I found myself constantly frightened at how many similarities I recognized between the novel's absurdities and real life situations. It is not too infrequent that people will use social media or texting abbreviations when speaking to one another face to face. The whole concept of diluting and diminishing face to face interactions through the takeover of technology was well illustrated thus far in the novel, and is a common topic of discussion in today's world. The fact that an animated otter now takes the place of what should be a real human interaction at a foreign Embassy comments on the world's, but especially our nation's, overemphasis on the race to better and more efficient technology. The otter, despite its extremely personal questions, cannot accurately evaluate the character and quality of Lenny - and so we are lead to believe flags him on little basis. Furthermore, the use of credit history to determine the fate of people's lives is clearly extremely irresponsible and altogether ridiculous, but with our country heading toward a completely computerized, technological economy, is not all too unimaginable.
I also was reminded of Feed especially with the importance of the apparats. It seems that everyone is consumed with technology, and as Wesley pointed out, an all-encompassing desire to be youthful. This novel seems to be one step behind the society in Feed, where the computer chips are actually a physical part of the human body, and serve biological functions, and as a forum for people to communicate brain to brain on a constant instant messaging system. I sometimes joke about the implications of our rapid technological progress, and my hatred of the kindle as it paves the way on the slippery slope to our future dystopian society. The society portrayed in SSTLS is the first I have found to hold some fathomable merit. By no stretch of the imagination is the society portrayed, or at least parts of it, obtainable. I found the beginning of this novel to be extremely disconcerting in the way that it's realistic, perhaps because it was written so recently. So far, it serves a great warning to us all.

What I found the most interesting about the readings thus far in Super Sad True Love Story was the emphasis on youth and body image. There seems to be an extreme fear of aging in this “new United States”, so much that the main social network that everyone is expected to be a part of is called “GlobalTeens”, even though its members are all ages. The ideal seems to be some sort of chemically-induced youth, so that one can float almost in a transitory non-aging state— Lenny comments on his boss, Josh, that he cannot tell what age he is. Lenny is constantly surrounded by people who are obsessed with images of youth and making their bodies last longer (even his job is trying to sell immortality to people). These people act as foils to Lenny who appears in stark contrast as truly old-fashioned person. He ages, he reads, he doesn’t know the slang of the youth. But because he is so different from the rest of characters and the society itself, he seems comfortingly familiar. He is the last vestiges of the society that predated that of Super Sad True Love Story, the one that we exist in now. Though Lenny’s desires point him increasingly towards conforming to the ideals of society— getting chemical treatment, reading less books, etc., he is still the reader’s only real grounding on the dramatic turns that this new society has taken. In a strange way, Lenny is ‘carrying the fire’— of books, of privacy, of aging, and I have a feeling that he will come to realize his importance later in the novel, as his relationship with Eunice Park is developed.

pp. 1-98

I think it is very sad the way in which people in this society are living. Their apparats are clearly extensions of today’s smart phones (I thought it was amusing how they referred to iPhones as being extremely outdated), and they distract individuals from face-to-face interactions, even when the individuals are standing right next to each other. The numerical profiling that many of the functions of the apparat rely on, especially the descriptions of people’s recent purchases, reminded me of the book Feed, by M.T. Anderson, in which characters have implants in their brain that give companies direct marketing power over individuals. These issues—the emotional divides between individuals created by a technology screen, as well as the increasing influence of marketing and consumerism in society—are issues that our current society is already faced with. Though social media is intended to be a tool that brings people together, it often actually makes people feel more alone; it also takes up significant amounts of time that could be spent actually doing something with friends, or in doing something important. These same issues are well represented in SSTLS, such as when Lenny goes to meet his two friends and his friend Noah is only really interested in video-taping Lenny for his show, as opposed to actually talking to him and hearing about his time in Rome.

As privacy is increasingly eliminated in the social and public sphere, government intrusions into individuals’ lives seem to be simultaneously growing. In fact, though its specific goal is not the same, the ARA reminds me a bit of the British government as depicted in 1970, which is concerning to me.