A review by giroflee
The Idiot, by Elif Batuman
4.0
On a sentence-by-sentence level, I loved this book. I was highlighting one brilliant observation after another.
I also thought that Batuman does a great job of capturing the dislocation, loneliness, and boredom that come with living in a foreign country where you don’t know the norms or the language. I’ve experienced it myself, and it really is like that.
But there isn’t much in the way of plot, and some of the scenes drag. Selina is wonderfully observant but so passive; I’d love to read another novel from Svetlana’s perspective as she was so sharply drawn.
I also thought that Batuman does a great job of capturing the dislocation, loneliness, and boredom that come with living in a foreign country where you don’t know the norms or the language. I’ve experienced it myself, and it really is like that.
But there isn’t much in the way of plot, and some of the scenes drag. Selina is wonderfully observant but so passive; I’d love to read another novel from Svetlana’s perspective as she was so sharply drawn.