Little Failure

Reading Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart made me realize that this book must have made a connection with a certain group of people but also was an eye opener for other, especially for me. In this book, Shteyngart talks about the struggles of being an immigrant living in the United States, specifically New York City, a place filled with diversity. Shteyngart was born in Russia. There, the only people he would know were his family members and friends. He must have lived comfortably there because he was fluent in their native language and was familiar with the places he was going with. It was until he went to a local school nearby where he would begin to struggle. Making friends was an issue for him because of his native tongue. Similar to other immigrants, he would have to learn a whole other language to converse with children his age. His fellow peers were born in America. When he spoke, he would have a strong accent. So making friends was already an issue for him. Also the people around him would scare him. When Shteyngart first came, he was not use to seeing other races. He applied a comedic line to that situation saying, " The spanish with there radio transistors and swiss army knives. The blacks outside home ready to take something." Looking at his struggles and overtime how he learned to cope with them was actually a motivation for me. To see how successful he is, from going to one of the best high schools in New York and becoming a a famous author, made me realize anything is possible.