'The Finest Piece of Anti-iPhone Propaganda Ever Written'

Super talented novelist Gary Shteyngart (A Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan) has a new book out, Super Sad True Love Story. Some people are reading it as an anti-technology morality play, particularly after his New York Times essay, "Only Disconnect" revealed his feelings about the " techno-fugue state." The Village Voice's Rob Harvilla introduced the book by calling it "the finest piece of anti-iPhone propaganda ever written":

Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story tries to be many things--tragicomic 1984 update, poignant May-December romance per the title, heartfelt tribute to the nostalgic joys of plain ol' books--and succeeds at most of them. But primarily, it's the finest piece of anti-iPhone propaganda ever written, a cautionary tale full of distracted drones unwilling to tear themselves away from their little glowing screens long enough to make eye contact, let alone an actual lasting connection, with another human being. It's super sad 'cause it's true, but that also makes it hilarious.

Read the full story at Village Voice.

(I'm actually headed to Bus Boys and Poets to pick up the book now, but I'd be curious to know if any of you had devoured it yet. My suspicious, having read Shteyngart's previous work, is that he's too interesting to present completely unalloyed technophobia.)

Update: The ever-vigilant James Fallows spotted an omitted lower-case "i" in the headline.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/08/the-finest-piece-of-anti-iphone-propaganda-ever-written/60745/