Author: Elif Batuman
The Idiot is a book that is not easy to describe. It tackles coming of age in a college setting at Harvard University and ethnic minorities trying to navigate friendship, love, and relationships, and a new life as adults. I initially enjoyed the book because of the story from the Russian class, which I thought would develop throughout the book, in a Margaret Atwood style, but that was not the case. The story was about a Russian girl going to look for her boyfriend in Siberia, then staying there and finding out he has not disappeared for a good reason, but actually to do work and marry someone else. Had this been developed further, I would have found it very compelling. As it is, the interesting story ended abruptly. But the idea of describing an extracurricular activity such as Russian class in such detail was really innovative and well-written. The Russian class students of various origins took was generally a good part of the story.
What became apparent soon in the book is that the author writes in a style of classic Russian literature, which is both a positive and a negative for this book. Positive because my understanding is that this author is not Russian, and thus, it takes a particular type of genius to be able to mimic another country’s writing style. This, for me personally, is also a negative because, sadly, I do not like Russian literature. I read works of some classic Russian authors in high school because I had to, and I never went back to that literature.
The Idiot follows the story of Selim, who has a crush on Ivan. Selim is Turkish American, and Ivan is Hungarian, also a senior who wants to continue his studies in California, bringing about the inevitability of the relationship ending, should one ever commence. Selim and Ivan’s story happens at a time when emails and technology are starting to grow and everything is new, so we follow their messages and personal interactions, and we learn about their complex relationship. I did not enjoy conversations and Ivan’s character, and the fact that he toys with Selim in the way he does so, even though this is not about love as much as about figuring things out and finding and inventing oneself, love was still part of it. I suppose there is some truth in the way this book describes crushes and how falling for someone may result in issues and finding or losing oneself.
In many ways, the Idiot is a good book and worth reading, but not for me…
Thank you for reading!