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A review by anna1isa
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
3.0
Required Reading for Book Club.
This was quite a journey. Off the jump, the narrator obviously has a strong voice and a witty sense of humor, and I appreciate that. The MC has some quirky & interesting observations about the world around her and that makes up the bulk of the entertainment value. There's nothing about this that I would describe as a 'page-turner': There is a little plot to keep things moving, but no real tension or suspense. I also found the characters insufferable most of the time and wasn't inclined to keep spending time with them. I concede with this title though, you are getting what you paid for in terms of characters.
Ivan and Selin... you gotta be kidding me. This was the most frustrating, confusing romance. Although now that I say it, I do believe that was the point. I don't care. They both pissed me off so much, it almost demoted this 2.0 stars. Why would you subject yourself to that?
Nearer the end, I found myself reluctantly more endeared to the characters [sigh].
I found the writing to be pleasantly blunt, this is a lit fic through and through. My biggest gripe though with this book is probably the lofty allusions to other works of literature and the vocabulary + density of the writing. So pretentious. Intentional? Probably yes (the setting is Harvard, for god's sake). My cup of tea? Certainly not. I can appreciate the occasional lit fic or classic, but this one in particular didn't sit quite right with me since it felt like MC was critiquing pretentiousness without any self-awareness of her own position on that spectrum.
Decent book club pick thanks to many ideas for discussion. I don't think I'd have enjoyed it reading on my own.
This was quite a journey. Off the jump, the narrator obviously has a strong voice and a witty sense of humor, and I appreciate that. The MC has some quirky & interesting observations about the world around her and that makes up the bulk of the entertainment value. There's nothing about this that I would describe as a 'page-turner': There is a little plot to keep things moving, but no real tension or suspense. I also found the characters insufferable most of the time and wasn't inclined to keep spending time with them. I concede with this title though, you are getting what you paid for in terms of characters.
Nearer the end, I found myself reluctantly more endeared to the characters [sigh].
I found the writing to be pleasantly blunt, this is a lit fic through and through. My biggest gripe though with this book is probably the lofty allusions to other works of literature and the vocabulary + density of the writing. So pretentious. Intentional? Probably yes (the setting is Harvard, for god's sake). My cup of tea? Certainly not. I can appreciate the occasional lit fic or classic, but this one in particular didn't sit quite right with me since it felt like MC was critiquing pretentiousness without any self-awareness of her own position on that spectrum.
Decent book club pick thanks to many ideas for discussion. I don't think I'd have enjoyed it reading on my own.