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A review by caroisreading
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
challenging
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book took me about 100 pages to finally "get it" -- to relax, read this with levity, to stop being so annoyed by our narrator or the abstruse references. I even needed some moments to pick my jaw off the floor from shockingly racist situations, and try to accept it's all part of the agenda in "The Idiot."
Selin is a freshman at Harvard, and incredibly awkward and genuinely dumb about things, as most teens are. She floats in and out of situations dictated by her classes, her mom, her roommates, her friends, and her developing crush on Ivan, a fellow student. The way she just lets things happen to her, and tries to formulate what's happening in her head, it's so incredibly funny.
The parts that were lost on me were any involving Ivan. I related to the first-love obsession. But all humor was gone for me in these scenes, and Selin was a shell of herself, reduced to pining and repetitive thoughts. Also, don't come for me, but Svetlana annoyed me to no end.
Elif Batuman writes such a perfect representation of a 19yo's inner thoughts, a superficial level of elitism, confidence and borrowed intelligence, absolutely humbled and reset by life and love.
You'll enjoy this if you appreciate funny, intellectual reads, awkward narrators, and don't need plots or "satisfying" endings.
Selin is a freshman at Harvard, and incredibly awkward and genuinely dumb about things, as most teens are. She floats in and out of situations dictated by her classes, her mom, her roommates, her friends, and her developing crush on Ivan, a fellow student. The way she just lets things happen to her, and tries to formulate what's happening in her head, it's so incredibly funny.
The parts that were lost on me were any involving Ivan. I related to the first-love obsession. But all humor was gone for me in these scenes, and Selin was a shell of herself, reduced to pining and repetitive thoughts. Also, don't come for me, but Svetlana annoyed me to no end.
Elif Batuman writes such a perfect representation of a 19yo's inner thoughts, a superficial level of elitism, confidence and borrowed intelligence, absolutely humbled and reset by life and love.
You'll enjoy this if you appreciate funny, intellectual reads, awkward narrators, and don't need plots or "satisfying" endings.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Excrement and Racism