helsiebaby 's review for:

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

2.0

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I deeply disliked this until the final 70 pages, when the guy she's talked herself into a crush on stops being a thing. Then the book got awesome! But god, how disappointing that it took so long. I love books about nothing and everything, this one should've checked every box for me. But the protagonist is so completely incurious, her crush so not compelling, and literally nothing about her makes me believe she's 18 except for how she finds the time to either stay up all night or sleep all day. And the writing is not good enough to make any of that pleasing. Urgh! Rage! Why’d I waste my time!