The Idiot

Taking a linguistics class, she disagrees with her teacher, who believes that people think in the same way whatever language they think in. But what happens once you try to put other people into your story? The plot would be quite different if the characters had mobile phones instead of landlines, and if email were less new and strange. She writes to fellow student Ivan, an older boy in her Russian language class, putting them both in the personae of inhabitants of their Russian textbook. In taking on these roles, Selin and Ivan are able to expose themselves to each other while hiding behind the barrier of fiction.

Ivan is more ambivalent, or perhaps simply more fearful. At every stage, he encourages her only to rebuff her, apparently too frightened to allow the world of print to take on living form.

What Selin is discovering is that however real the world created by language may be, we can disown it at any moment. Confronted by the physical reality of his girlfriend and her day-to-day claims, she cannot compete. A summary of this kind makes the novel sound like a treatise, which is exactly what it is not. The voice throughout is colloquial and humorous. But in those days, we found a lot of meaning in sharing so much of our lives. I felt like the first half of the novel in particular captured this feeling, this mode-of-communicating, that we have moved on from as we have turned to short blasts of clever phrases or photos.

There is less room for connection between people and ideas, in my opinion. So parts of this were absolutely indulgent for me. I am making this caveat clear because I am not sure, without this shared experience, that this novel would be as good for another reader. I was less thrilled with where the novel went, as soon as Ivan arranged for Selin to teach English in Hungary. Then it became a novel about things happening, and much of the deeper thinking and navel-gazing went away. I liked the ending, but it could have been longer.

I listened to the audio, read by the author, and I loved her wry tone. I may have caught the humor in the print but it was particularly clear in her voice. I found myself laughing at some of her side comments and descriptions. If she also read her previous book, I would probably go read it.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the audio in exchange for an honest review. Da qui la struttura del romanzo: Questo libro contiene tutti gli elementi per detestarlo: Ha qualcosa da dire di molto potente su come ci si sente durante l'adolescenza prolungata dei vent'anni.

Parla delle relazioni d'amore mediate dalla tecnologia con un'ironia dolente, che da un lato diverte, dall'altro fa tristezza e paura al contempo. Non lo consiglierei ma leggetelo. Jul 30, Paul rated it did not like it Shelves: I suppose it's appropriate that one of the recurring themes in Elif Batuman's The Idiot is the sensation of being trapped — in conversation, in a situation, in a location.

Because about two-thirds of the way through this frustrating and tedious novel, I realized I too was trapped — too curious to simply jettison the story, all too aware that the plot was heading into ever more stagnant territory. In the end, I couldn't help but feel that the title, although ostensibly a reference to the Dostoyev I suppose it's appropriate that one of the recurring themes in Elif Batuman's The Idiot is the sensation of being trapped — in conversation, in a situation, in a location. In the end, I couldn't help but feel that the title, although ostensibly a reference to the Dostoyevsky classic, was actually referring to me.

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It wasn't all bad. The first third of the book was actually pretty great, whether because of my own nostalgia for my freshman year of college or maybe my nostalgia for Rory Gilmore's freshman year of college or because Batuman successfully blended a dry wit with a quirky character to create what appeared to be a winning tale of a girl coming of age and falling in love. Instead, Selin's relationship with Ivan grows, she becomes duller and so does the story. To be honest, the conceit is somewhat realistic: Selin has a male friend who is much more interesting and more suited for her, but she can't help obsessing over the self-absorbed and off-putting older guy, eventually traveling to Hungary to teach English so she can see him on the weekends.

But once the story left Harvard, all traces of what made me get invested in it disappeared, and I was left slogging through a swamp of mundane details and dull conversations, each step forward making me wish I had closed the book when I had the chance. By the end, I had progressed to actively hating everyone in the book yet I was still forcing myself to get to the end: View all 11 comments. The Idiot is a hard book to review, because everything about it comes down to personal taste. There's no plot or narrative arc to speak of—the book just follows our narrator, year-old Selin, as she goes through her first year of college and a summer abroad.

We hear about everything that happens to her, and especially everything she thinks about. So even if the lack of plot doesn't bother you, it still really comes down to whether you enjoy being in Selin's company. I can speak only for myself The Idiot is a hard book to review, because everything about it comes down to personal taste.

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I can speak only for myself when I say the answer to that is a resounding yes: I had a busy October and it took me a while to finish this, but I was still happy every time I got a chance to pick it up and rejoin the world of Selin, her awesome friend Svetlana, and the enigmatic Ivan. When I finished The Idiot I was wavering between 4 and 5 stars, but now that I've had some time to contemplate, 5 stars is a no-brainer. The fact is, Selin is really naive and inexperienced, and occasionally I got annoyed with her, but every time I did I remembered that I was pretty much exactly the same way when I was her age.

I realize not everyone is similar to Selin and me, but from my perspective her portrayal was so spot-on that I didn't just identify with it—I admired it. Also, in this day and age it's a major feat to write a page, interior novel all from one character's perspective. I get so tired of the whole "I'm using multiple narrators not because it's necessary but because I am not skilled enough to sustain a narrative from one person's viewpoint" epidemic among writers these days. Give me one distinctive voice I can sink into and I will be a happy camper.

And with this novel, I was. Again, personal taste is a strong factor when it comes to The Idiot.

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I understand not liking this because of the lack of plot, or because of an unwillingness to hang out with a Harvard freshman for pages. But I have to admit I can't understand the reviews that criticize Selin as a person, for being naive or clueless or a drag. Did all of you have everything figured out at 18??? If so, go hang out at the cool kids' table, I guess.

As for me, I'll be over here in the corner with Selin, misreading everything everyone else says and does, and waiting impatiently for the sequel. The Idiot is the third book in my Read Like Greta project. View all 10 comments. Mar 08, Meike rated it did not like it Shelves: Selin is a freshman at Harvard, she tries to find her own path in life and her search strategy is highly influenced by the things she learns about language at school.

There is also a guy whom Selin likes more than he likes her, and there is a journey to Europe. Selin who also speaks Turkish learns Russian, and the book's title is of course a nod to Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Now on to the reasons why I feel unable to continue with this: Selin is an Ivy League student who does not need to hold down a job, has zero problems in life and seems to spend all day reading fun texts and thinking about, yes, herself. Still, she is pretentiously suffering from disorientation. Get a life, Selin, your firstworldproblems are a bore.

I never had much sympathy for people who seem to want to crawl back to their high school and mommy , because, like, college is, like, so hard and stuff. College is a privilege, so grow up and get over yourself. It's a mystery to me how Selin can have so little fun there without any apparent reason because, as some people claim, she realizes that it's a place full of other smart people? Who wants to be surrounded by morons?? Other reviewers said that they liked how Batuman describes the rise of new media that coincides with Selin starting college.

I am too young to judge that, so maybe what I say now is a little unfair, but the whole "OMG, it's the 90's and I don't know what e-mail is"-schtick just made me sigh. Batuman's love for the intricate and lengthy description of irrelevant details also felt slightly torturous to me. All in all, this book did not have anything to say to me.

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As German punk rock drummer Bela B. View all 57 comments. Feb 02, Michael Ferro rated it really liked it. This novel is a slow burn, but it's a pleasant warmth—not a scorching fire of excitement. But it's not meant to be either. Batuman has delivered a delightful, excruciatingly smart work of literary fiction that so perfectly captures the confusion of young love. Batuman is a writer's writer, giving us what our brain craves and doesn't waste our time with the cheap thrills that other This novel is a slow burn, but it's a pleasant warmth—not a scorching fire of excitement.

Batuman is a writer's writer, giving us what our brain craves and doesn't waste our time with the cheap thrills that others demand in order to turn the page. Instead, her sentences are stark and beautiful. The narrator's thoughts are unfiltered, raw, and often downright hilarious. It's a long story, and though you may not always be sure where it's going, you eventually come to a worthwhile conclusion. It's hard to ask for more from a very promising young talent.

View all 6 comments. May 09, Jennifer added it Shelves: This hit the spot for me, but I absolutely see why it has driven other people nuts. View all 3 comments. It had never occurred to me to think of aesthetics and ethics as opposites. I thought ethics were aesthetic. The book is told in the first person by Selin, a Turkish-descended American starting as a freshman at Harvard in the mid s and tracing her first year and first summer vacation there, particularly her unrequited relationship with Ivan a graduating Hungarian mathematician.

This is a coming of age story — capturing almost perfectly the transition from home and school to University, including at a world leading University like Harvard suddenly realising that your hitherto outstanding achievements are now par for the course Selin for example shocked when she does not make the college orchestra.

Ivan and Selin meet in a Russian class — and language is another key theme of the novel. Selin is fascinated by the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which states that the structure of a language determines a native speaker's perception and categorization of experience or as Selin puts it the language you spoke affected how you processed reality. She spends much of the book either learning another language Russian in the first part, Hungarian in the second part or teaching English as a second language initially as a volunteer activity in a housing project and in the second half of the novel over the Summer in a Hungarian village.

The similarities and differences between, and the linguistic quirks of Turkish, Hungarian and Russian as well as Serbo-Croat which is spoken by another member of the Russian class — Svetlana are examined throughout the book — including for example the influence or Turkish on Hungarian and Serbo-Croat dating from the Ottoman occupation of the countries. Selin is also a literature buff — and always seems to be trying to relate her experiences to literature.

The Idiot by Fyodor DOSTOYEVSKY (FULL Audiobook)

Mathematics also makes an appearance — as Selin frustrated with her ESL attempts at Harvard teaches mathematics in the project instead. If any of the the above makes the book sound heavyweight it is anything but, the writing is playful and humorous. Sometimes you have to risk going one way or the other. Selin decides she would rather risk being impenetrable than being obvious and lame. Selim, via Batuman, has a lovely ear for a phrase or description: She over-analyses everything, and spends time inappropriately parsing things around her — for example when watching The Sound of Music with her mother: I was interested when the nuns sang about solving a problem like Maria.

Unfortunately, they were all books.



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The professor was talking about the differences between creative and academic writing. I was thinking about the structural equivalence between a tissue box: Those were the kinds of things I thought about all the time, even though they were neither pleasant or useful. I had no idea what you were supposed to be thinking about. Why did every story have to end with marriage?

You expected that from Bleak House or Crime and Punishment.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Of everything I had read that semester, it alone had seemed to speak to me directly, to promise to reveal something about the relationship between language and the world A number of other aspects I enjoyed — many of which reminded me of University: After playing squash the blue rubber ball was so small, so fast, so crazy. Nonetheless on the test you had to draw the diagram of RNA transcription — which reminded me of the Professional Exams I took post University.

Which in turn leads on to the assertion that in many subjects Reason only got you so far. Even if each step followed from the previous one, you still had to memorize the first step, and also the rule for how stops followed from each other — which reminded me of the surprising amount of revision and learning involved in studying Pure Mathematics at University. So overall I have to say that I enjoyed this book hugely. It reminded me of a female both in author and first person narrator version of The Nix — and this resemblance was magnified both due to the number of times I laughed out loud when reading it, and the copious number of post it notes I placed in the book for passages or quotes I wanted to use in my review.

However I went into it with very low expectations as many of those I most respected on Goodreads really hated it even some who loves The Nix — and I can understand why this book may not appeal to others which leads to my last quote which may also serve as an apology if you have not enjoyed my review: It was decreasingly possible to imagine explaining it to anyone.

Whoever it was would jump out of a window from boredom. And yet there I was watching the accumulation in real time, and not only was I not bored, but it was all I could think about View all 17 comments. After listening this book, had to think about it long and hard before writing a review. First of all only reason I wanted to read was author is a daughter of Turkish parents.

Places she was visiting was exciting places I would love to visit or lived in. But this book is definitely for twenty something age group, just going to university and discovering what life is about. I feel like most of this book just went completely over my head. I don't get it: Apr 23, Rachel rated it it was amazing Shelves: The Idiot is a book you either click with or you don't.

I absolutely understand why some readers have found it maddening. I can't recall the last book I read where less happened than it did here, which, considering that it's nearly a five-hundred page book, is kind of a triumph in its own right. But I got along with The Idiot splendidly. This is quiet, sparse, cerebral, philosophical, surprisingly humorous account of a Turkish-American girl's first year at Harvard. In one of her Russian classes s The Idiot is a book you either click with or you don't. In one of her Russian classes she meets Ivan, an older Hungarian student, and she becomes inexorably drawn to him.

This isn't a romantic book, necessarily, but it is one that ruminates on the nature of love. Selin's pursuit of love and pursuit of intellectualism run parallel, both stemming from a desire to understand and be understood, and this is something that Batuman explores deftly in these pages.

The most noteworthy thing about this book is the brilliant protagonist that Batuman has created in Selin, and her striking narrative voice. Selin is first and foremost an observer. That's not to say that she isn't an active participant in her life, or that she doesn't make decisions, because she does, but often these decisions come more as reactions to the people and situations around her rather than from within herself.

Selin observes the world in order to gain a deeper understanding of herself and where exactly she fits into the cosmic puzzle - and that's something I really connected with. I lost track of how many lines I highlighted because yes, that is me, that is my entire college experience encapsulated in a single phrase - but this one in particular stood out to me: Even though I had a deep conviction that I was good at writing, and that in some way I already was a writer, this conviction was completely independent of my having ever written anything, or being able to imagine ever writing anything, that I thought anyone would like to read.

I will admit to flinching at this and some of the other truths that The Idiot elucidated for me. My only complaint is that it overstays its welcome by about a hundred pages Anyway, I can't think of many people I'd recommend this to, and I can think of several I would specifically not recommend this to hi, Hadeer , but I thought it was brilliant.

It's an easy, smooth read in some ways, but a difficult, dense read in others - Batuman doesn't rely on a flashy vocabulary to show off her intelligence, but it's on display on every single page. This isn't a book you read for escapism as much as one you read in order to gain a clearer picture of your own reality. For me, it was a resounding success in that regard. View all 8 comments. May 22, Hannah Knight rated it did not like it Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.

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