Reviews

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

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scohen_'s review against another edition

5.0

REALLY AWESOME!!!

“I kept thinking about the uneven quality of time--the way it was almost always so empty, and then with no warning came a few days that felt so dense and alive and real that it seemed indisputable that that was what life was, that its real nature had finally been revealed. But then time passed and unthinkably grew dead again, and it turned out that that fullness had been an aberration and might never come back.”

loganbeatrice's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

oceanelle's review against another edition

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So incredibly boring.

aminarotari's review against another edition

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funny reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This felt very Sally Rooney-esque to me with its classical displays of human misunderstandings, tendencies to overthink, and all other innate or learned imperfections.

chrissmea's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

ssesh3's review against another edition

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2.0

2.5 stars. Wanted to DNF, but persevered. Beautiful writing, but I wasn't a fan of the slow pace and ended up skimming many parts of the book.

toppoptart's review against another edition

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funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Caution, I wouldn't advise reading this review if you have plans to read this. Theres no spoilers. Maybe I didn't understand this book for what it was, I wouldn't say its not worth a read, or its poorly written. But I will say this, the writing can sometimes get unnesscessarily wordy for no meaningful purpose (perhaps other than to show how useless some information is?) and the main character's disposition is so lackluster but also introverted yet conceited I think my main gripe about it is that this never came to any fruition in amy particular direction. It became a bit irritating, and there was neither relief nor consequence. What change there was was not significant enough for it to feel satisfying or interesting in any particular way. That doesn't mean its a bad book, but I found that I was forcing myself to finish it, even with plot movement happeneing. It felt tepid at best, even with the MC's complexity.