Super Sad True Love Story

Eunice is a small Korean-American woman who, on the day Lenny meets her, resembles “vaguely a very young Asian Audrey Hepburn” (14). After her college graduation, Eunice travels to Italy, where she seeks fashion, a vibrant sex life, and an escape from family and political troubles at home. Although Eunice is clearly self-absorbed and anxious, she discovers, upon her return home to America, a desire to help others and a love for her family that sets her apart from others. “Unlike so many Americans” in the world Shteyngart creates, she does not “possess the false idea that she [is] special” (326).

Early in the story, Eunice seeks an attractive young man who fits her “type.” As she yearns for stability, she leans into her relationship with Lenny, who is much older, even eventually admitting that she loves him. Eunice also spends time with David Lorring, a Low Net Worth Individual who helps her at least attempt to look back her entitled mindset. By the end of the story, her “punishment” (295) is life with Joshie Goldmann, to whom she is initially attracted but whose overbearing power and love is ultimately uninspiring.

Eunice, like so many in her generation, writes to her technology. Through her äppärät, on which she constantly shops for clothing through a site called AssLuxury, she writes to friends and family through the world-dominating GlobalTeens site. Eventually, when the äppärät no longer works, she still writes on it; her äppärät begins to function more like a diary. When the communication element works again, Eunice grows more heartfelt in her writing. Whereas her early GlobalTeens interactions reveal her indecision, she is more certain about how she feels and what she cares about by the end of the text.

Joshie and Lenny share “Jewish feelings of terror and injustice” (48), which, Lenny writes, unify them in the mutual desire to overcome death. Lenny sees his relationship to Joshie as a “father-like bond” (48), even though Joshie, through dechronification processes, appears much younger than Lenny. Joshie is Lenny’s boss, and he helps Lenny keep his job despite Lenny’s poor performance in Italy. Their long union is meaningful. Once Joshie knows about Eunice, however, he begins to keep Lenny alive primarily to pursue her as his romantic partner.

Through Eunice’s eyes, Joshie is able to “let go and focus on something that’s completely outside” (295) of himself. In his leadership of Post-Human Services, Joshie entirely abandons ethical concerns in pursuit of the future, in which anti-aging work is indispensable. Joshie sees his work as “the heart of the creative economy” (256), what will come into fashion after America’s collapse. Regardless of any turmoil, Joshie seeks power. He is the only person in Lenny’s or Eunice’s life who can send communication when äppäräti fail, and he uses that power to win over Eunice in a vulnerable situation.

Sally is Eunice’s confusing younger sister. In Eunice’s eyes, she appears “rebellious, sometimes as religious, sometimes as political and involved, sometimes as detached, sometimes as budding with sexuality, and always as overweight” (184). Still studying at Barnard, Sally is politically active in a way that initially scares Eunice. Eventually, as Eunice continues to visit Tompkins Park, she recognizes that both sisters share a desire to help others.

Although Sally seems to face turmoil in the world outside, she is hesitant to speak up within her own family. She encourages Eunice not to fear her father’s wrath and to stay in Italy and enjoy herself, even though she also resents the ease with which Eunice detaches herself from the drama of world events. Despite their disagreements, Sally and Eunice rely upon one another for support and opinions in a changing world.

Noah is one of Lenny’s best friends from his undergraduate years at NYU. He streams a live show through his äppärät, as many Media producers do, filming his life events and his opinions for the world to see. Historically, Noah is the most attractive of Lenny’s friends, and he is also the most hooked into the technology-obsessed world around them. Noah and his girlfriend, Amy Greenberg, are “so Media” (149), representative of their age and reporting culture. They are thus the target of a purge of Media producers, a mass killing that, the text suggests, Joshie may be part of. 

Vishnu is the other of Lenny’s closest college friends. He warns Lenny that “Noah may be ARA” (92), part of the military band seeking control over New York, but in the end, Vishnu seems to be a collaborator. This political work may be the factor that enables his and his pregnant wife, Grace’s move to Canada after the “Rupture.” Vishnu’s “bumbling nature, his kindness and naivete” (304) are part of his charm, which he will hand down to the child that he and Grace boldly decide to have. 

Lenny loves Grace; when he meets up with his friends again, he looks at her “with a need bordering on grief” (93). Grace is Korean-American, like Eunice, and was raised religious: these values not only correlate to a more conservative dressing style, but also to a compassion that Lenny longs for. Grace works to make Eunice feel comfortable among their friends and even offers her advice, although Eunice rejects her attempts to act sisterly. After the Rupture, Grace encourages Lenny to escape to Canada with her and Vishnu, which he does. He respects Grace and sees her as “something incomprehensibly right in the world” (303). 

Howard Shu “is the personification of that sadness” (57) that abounds at Post-Human Services. In Lenny’s absence, Howard gains power and influence within the company; after the IMF takes over America and the life-extension services backfire on Joshie, Howard takes over the company. Howard is tough on Lenny and rejects the affection that Joshie shares for him. Howard is a “sleek 124-pound bastard” (57), perfectly suited for success in the post-American, concise, unemotional world.

Kelly Nardl is one of the other old-guard employees of Post-Human Services. Her emotional intelligence and willing to stick up for Lenny when he returns from Italy makes her odd at the company. She has a “nondeodorized animal scent” (56) that does not fit with the company’s picture of youthful perfection, and her unwillingness to look and act like her younger coworkers endears her to Lenny. Kelly is “an exception to the hard-edged types” and reminds Lenny of Nettie Fine in her “kindness and gentility” (56).

Jenny, who Eunice refers to as Grillbitch (her GlobalTeens name) until she fears for her desperately, is a lively young Korean-American girl and Eunice’s best friend. At the beginning of the text, Jenny and Eunice share an interest in sex and clothing. Their bond, as tensions in the world around them rise, is more clearly through the challenges of being young Korean-American women, balancing family and society. They both recognize a need to identify first as members of a family. That imperative becomes problematic as Jenny’s family factory is taken over by the same Low Net Worth Individuals that Eunice helps in Tompkins Park. Jenny, it seems, disappears from society (or at least her äppärät), soon after.

David is the leader of Aziz’s Army, the “real resistance” that starts the “Rupture” (155) that brings down New York City. Eunice admires him, even has affection for him, and when Media shows him “badly wounded” and with “one arm dangling off the stretcher at an inhuman angle” (237), Eunice panics. Although Eunice never hears from David again, and must assume that he, like Noah, has been killed, his advice to listen to her family and think of others profoundly shapes her thinking as she begins to reflect more critically.

Nettie Fine, who dies just two days after Lenny sees her in Italy, is a shaping influence in Lenny’s story. He continues to speak with her (rather, with someone impersonating her) on his äppärät, seeking advice for the end of the world. Gradually, Lenny’s memories of her kindness, her role as his parents’ “young American mama” (8), help him to think of the best ways to operate in the world. Finding his connection to his family also requires understanding the ways in which Nettie acted as family, connecting Lenny both to his roots and to his American future.

Amy is Noah’s girlfriend, “a pretty well-known Mediawhore who spends about seven hours a day streaming about her weight” (83). Even in disaster, Amy speaks mostly about her outfits and her body. When the Rupture occurs, she begins to speak mostly about her mother and her desire to be together again; a desire to connect to those who mean most, instead of just constantly connecting, surfaces in the desperate moments for even the most superficial Media personality.

Lenny’s Russian Jewish parents have a profound influence on him. In their odd home in Westbury, they develop antiquated political views and live remotely through their son’s American success. Although at times abusive, especially Mr. Abramov, they also love their son and are thrilled when he arrives home. In Lenny’s mind, they are “a uni-parent, made heavy with child by a Yiddish Holy Ghost,” despite “their temperamental differences” (304). When Lenny notices that they are starving, he works to keep them alive; his parents are both physically and mythically important, their resilience through Soviet Union danger an inspiration to Lenny as he faces danger.

Mrs. Park, an embattled victim of domestic abuse, looks “twenty years older” (182) than the 50 years old Eunice claims she is. Her deep concern for her daughter and perseverance through abuse stem from a Korean-American, Christian sense of selflessness and family. Mrs. Park encourages Eunice to stay overseas even when she is in danger at the hands of her husband. Her connection to her church, and the decisions that it causes her to make, confuses her daughters. Nonetheless, Eunice longs for her mother and writes to her even when she knows she cannot respond.