62 pages 2 hours read

Gary Shteyngart

Our Country Friends

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “Entanglements”

Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary

The next morning, the guests descend on the main house, with some suffering from worse hangovers than others. The Actor, angered that he is not in the largest bungalow, demands Senderovsky’s presence in 20 minutes to work on the script. Nat, eager to explore the groundhog den, invites Karen to join her, while Ed and Dee decide to go for a walk around the neighborhood. On their walk, they gossip about the other guests, and Ed explains to Dee how he has three passports and travels around the world constantly. As they walk, they see the houses of both town locals and wealthy, city people who are visiting. Dee catches herself falling into stereotypes about poor, rural areas, realizing that she is doing the same thing she despises seeing from those in her urban circles. They comment on Senderovsky’s money troubles with his failed scripts and how Masha supports him through her work as a psychiatrist. Masha works with older Russian immigrants, switching to this job hoping to make a difference for people after her sister’s death from lung cancer. As they make their way back toward the house, Ed asks Dee to take a Tröö Emotions picture with him like she did with the Actor, and she in return wonders whether he could be a reliable sex partner during the lockdown.