Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

L'idiota by Elif Batuman

7 reviews

mchard's review against another edition

4.0

challenging funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Alcohol

abernathy_33's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Sexual content, Sexual harassment

nataliegray's review against another edition

3.75

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Body shaming, Sexual content

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

3.75

challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I freely admit that it is possible that I didn't "get" this book, but it really felt like, and the text itself says this, it's 14 hours of the characters misunderstanding each other. But not in a Hallmark-movie-misunderstanding-silly way, like a "I guess that XXX." "What?" "Nothing." "No, what did you say?" "It's dumb. Just that I guess that XXX." "Oh." way. And I am all for a weird little book that is doing something different than the norm, but this got tedious. The writing isn't bad at all, but I had a hard time getting engaged. Which could be the point? That Selin couldn't get engaged with Ivan either? I feel like I could write on this book, but it didn't qualify as a "fun" read for me. I'm not sure this had a plot?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Racism

wasabby's review against another edition

2.0

sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The first half of the book is focused on Selin, a freshman at Harvard, going through the machinations of college life. If the whole book was set up like this, I think it'd be easier to like it. Unfortunately, at the halfway mark, the book devolves into a strange grooming scenario between Selin and a senior/grad student. When you combine that with the sheer amount of casual racism, literal slurs, *acknowledgement* of the slurs and yet the continued use of them, the constant antisemitism the book somehow always finds a way to come back to... it's not a good book. It glorifies a predatory dynamic between a young woman and a man too old to be dating an 18 year old. It doesn't criticize the lack of empathy Selin feels for those around her. Characters in the book are often devoid of any real personality beyond "the black roommate" and "the friend of a friend who has a girlfriend in a wheelchair." Also just a lot of strange sexual content. If any of that's not your cup of tea, I'd avoid reading this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Excrement, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Classism

savvylit's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The Idiot is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an incredibly intelligent yet socially naive young woman. For instance, Selin spends paragraphs contemplating philosophy, existentialism, linguistics, and mathematics - but she can barely express her own emotions and needs. Early in the novel, Selin enters into a toxic friendship with a fellow student named Ivan. Both Selin and Ivan are deeply emotionally stunted. In fact, they both talk AT each other instead of TO each other. And the majority of those one-sided conversations occur only via email. Their relationship was incredibly frustrating to witness & possibly my least favorite aspect of this novel. Luckily, Selin herself is so endearing that it makes up for it!

Selin's naivete, though frustrating, allows her to be an incredibly keen observationist. Being a college freshman, Selin experiences "adult" interaction for the first time. In these encounters, she often has a completely fresh perspective on ordinary scenarios that most of us might take for granted. And she's funny! Selin has a dry humor that kept me chuckling to myself from the first page to the last.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Racial slurs, Racism

Minor: Body shaming, War

rosalind's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail