I'm currently a third through "The idiot" and I am debating wether to DNF it or not. I just can't get over the fact that IT DOESN'T HAVE A PLOT. But then, she spits out a fantastic quote that makes me think and debate within myself and reflect on life. And I can't find middle ground. After this video I think I will try to finish it but I don't really think I'm gonna love it.

I completely agree with what you said when you stated Selins is a "unreliable narrator".. she most definitely is unreliable. As I read the story I felt I saw her grow in circumstance; going from being afraid/not understanding so much about conversations- to acting more freely and in a relaxed manner when conversing with her hosts in Hungary. Her thinking she had learned nothing at the end, to me, was such a great example of the young womens experience. You don't recognize how much you have grown until farther down the line. Like you said, she is far too close to the story to see her development. BTW Svetlana's character is great, you're wrong about that, haha.

yes ! (!!!!!!!) I loved all of your thoughts here, so I agree with red and blue! This was a wonderfully informative, structured, and paced review Rick. As one of my favorite books, I'll be pointing people to this video if they ever ask about The Idiot

Hahah wow I LOVED THIS despite raging at half of it (I am on the red shirt side of this discussion, fwiw). Because you countered all the arguments I disagreed with, I don’t have much to say except that this was delightful!

Really clever review! I finished the book today and loved it. I liked your discussion of whether Selin has really learned anything by the end. Right now I'm thinking my interpretation is that her realizing at the very end that she hasn't learned a thing is the very beginning of her process of piecing it all together and learning something from it. Otherwise I think it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for her to be telling us the story in the way she did, because it seems self-aware and aware of her actual shortcomings to an extent that she never was aware during the time period of the story itself. I mean, the way she talks about being at the village in Hungary felt like in hindsight she was starting to realize that she had been pretty self-absorbed and deserved to be seen by the locals as an idiot at the time. That's just my take though

Thank you for making this video and I appreciate your thoughts. Feelings of deep ambivalence, inner conflict, humility and loss of direction are wonderful themes and fodder for novels. While the author sets out to explore these themes I did not care for the format. The intentional lack of structure made me question the efficacy of this literary style/tool. Yes, our early 20s are largely spent meandering around the world, perseverating on all the "wrong" things and vacillating between feeling overly confident in our abilities then hopelessly insecure. But could this story be told in a different way? After just finishing an epic novel that was highly structured and proficiently leaned on several literary devices, at page 40 of this book I found myself asking "what am I reading? do I have to finish this?" Call it bad timing but personally I found this novel way too meandering and couldn't empathize with any of the privileged and highly unlikable characters. Often, writers use characters/narration/dialogue to reflect what the reader is thinking/feeling. I wonder if this novel would have felt different had there been someone or something to comment on Selin's ineptitude, inability to relate to others, and passivity. Unfortunately, that never happened and I couldn't identify with anyone at any point! Again, this was likely the intended experience for the reader as it reflects what Selin was feeling, but it was not enjoyable or worthwhile storytelling for me. :(

I loved this style of video! Way to go!

What I loved about this novel was all the time Batuman spent on the people she talked to (NOT including the boring cipher of the boyfriend.) When she traveled in the summer, I loved those segments. However, all the things I loved were essentially taken from her memoir that was much better, "Possessed: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them." I read the memoir first, and so the novel and its inertia was maddening to me. Three stars. But five stars to this video.

Heh, I had mixed feelings on this one as well - I went back and forth between thinking it was completely hilarious and miserably tedious. I take that as a positive though, because I expected to loath it - American literary fiction set at ivy league universities almost universally make me want to punch all of the main characters, so I definitely went in with low expectations. Although I had read and enjoyed Batuman's nonfiction writing, so maybe that's not completely true...🤷 I laughed when you said that at 36 years old you're too old for the 18-year-old Selin, because so much of the environment of the novel was tied to being 18 specifically in 1995. Maybe your problem is that you're too young! 😜

How did you film this? I need a behind-the-scenes... Mostly, this video made me want to reread the book, my reaction to it was so personal, I need to see if it stands up. I have very little in common with Selin, I do not "relate" to her, but I had an intense but unrequited relationship, mostly conducted over email, at the same age and in the same year as Selin so reading it brought up a lot of stuff. I see what you mean about Harvard not being a factor, but to me the time is a huge factor, more important than the place. This is the Xennial novel of my dreams, basically 😊

I think your "twitter timeline" analogy is the perfect encapsulation of how I felt. The book is filled with cool observations that kept me going but its wrapped in a painfully tedious "story".

Yay! Fun!

This should be considered for a Pulitzer for the number of t-shirts alone! I'd pretty much forgotten about this book, but now I remember that I kind want to read it.

This is so good!!!

Hahaha this was so great. Half of you is going to hate this, but I'm going to need to buy the book now...

Very entertaining 😄

I really loved this book. I really loved this video. 😂 well done

I don't know but this book didn't make me laugh once. It just made me smile, but that's it! Not sure if I'm missing something

😂 I wish I had something interesting to say but just 😂

I can answer this for you: It's good. Where did people start getting this idea that the quality of a book has something to do with how admirable the characters are? If you want an "epiphany" from The Idiot, here's one: college is a waste of time. There. Now you have a moral to the story. But if you've been to college, you should know that already.

This reminds me of my feelings for Breaking & Entering by Joy Williams, which I read recently. I see its merits and why so many writers love Joy Williams but the story is about disaffected White middle class people in Florida. Although interestingly written, great prose does not save a story that is basically about the struggles of people who do not have struggles.

Team blue from start to finish. Pretentious codswallop.

Great review! Did not enjoy the book. Stopped reading a hundred pages in or so. Seemed like a waste of time.

Just sounds like the meandering escapades of privileged kids coming of age into lives of non-problems. Which, honestly, are all too common theme in commercial literary fiction, and shows the class of people most likely to find successful careers in writing. Very tired of all the “my challenging yuppie life” books on shelves, but that’s just the case because most successful authors come from yuppie backgrounds. Joe Q. Redneck or Robbie from Compton ain’t gonna get a big-payout publishing contract, and they’re sure as hell not getting sneezed at by the Pulitzer committee. Honest to god, this is a big reason I only read mainly indie lit anymore. It’s written by real people who’ve lived in the real world and frankly, if you can weed through the bad shit, the good shit is REALLY FUCKIN GOOD. As good if not better than anything the big name publishers are releasing.