GSWS Feminist Book Club - December 2024

The Idiot

Elif Batuman

Penguin (2017)

The Idiot by Elif Batuman was a very different read for us. We liked the way it framed the author’s stream of consciousness as it made us question how we perceive the world. Some of the characters were a bit too two dimensional and we were frustrated with the main character, Selin’s obsession with Ivan, but we also acknowledged this is her first love - unless it was just an infatuation, we didn’t quite agree on that. We also disagreed on whether Selin was neurodiverse or whether she was just written as an innocent, young second generation immigrant. The discussion made us see different aspects of the book as we all took different things away from it, but we all agreed Elif Batuman is a great writer. But ultimately it was not necessarily an easy read, more just a stream of thoughts. It was a bit too academically written at times, not accessible enough, which indeed made some of us feel like idiots. 

Average rate: 2.9/5