Reviews

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

poeticmemory's review

3.0

this book definitely isn’t bad, and it frequently made me laugh out loud, but it was so difficult to get to the end. when i finally did arrive at the final pages, i sort of felt like i wasted my time. i’ll probably still read the next one when it comes out.

neeb3000's review

funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

brayden_stalcup13's review

4.0

Love the dry humor of the book and the strange ways of thinking. I relate to it in having odd strange thoughts about how the world works and the purpose of life. I adore both Selin and Ivan for different reasons and I cannot wait to read the sequel.

hanaqasrawi's review

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

marjoriehuang's review

5.0

This is about a girls first year at Harvard. She takes a bunch of classes, becomes acquaintances with a bunch of weirdos, and falls for an older math student from her russian class named Ivan. Ivan is horrible and it's not really clear what she likes about him, she just states over and over in the book that she feels painfully attracted to him but there really is no rhyme or reason. He even somehow convinces her to spend her summer teaching English in the Hungarian villages. The book is pretentious, hilarious, and insanely addicting. I basically stayed up all night to read it. It's packed with literary + film + music references too. And for some reason I find it weirdly relatable. Some of the scenes seem to parody weirdly specific stuff that has happened to me too in my life, like batuman is living in my walls. She writes about depression so well too, or at least depression the way I've experienced it: the feeling like your face has turned into cake and being unable to eat or even move.

Anyways I'm pleased that I already own the second book, as I'm excited to start it immediately.

allit's review

reflective relaxing slow-paced

3.0

sarahmoran27's review against another edition

challenging funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

katharim's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

sydneyyylove's review

4.0

4.5 stars

I love Selin.

Thank you, Shira for the recommendation and letting me borrow your book!!

At first I thought it started off slow, because the writing took more attention than I was initially prepared to give when I started reading after thanksgiving dinner. It is like reading late night journal entries. I loved it. The specificity and thoughtfulness and descriptions of Selin’s experiences in boston made me fall in love with this character. I relate to her a little too much lol.

I want to return to this book later in life. Reading it during my fourth year of college, I’m already in a different place than Selin, but her emotions, thoughts and reasonings resonate so closely.

bdog967's review

funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Really really well written but definitely character driven (not a bad thing, I just wanted a plot driven book when I read it). Need to revisit later, really interesting ideas abt language and culture