The Idiot

This book marries two excellent elements: the campus novel and the 90s. Set on Harvard’s campus in 1995, this is an especially satisfying read for those of us who remember the rise of email, a mode of communication explored at length in the book.

Batuman captures the awkwardness of coming-of-age so precisely that you’ll either be compelled to look at your old Facebook photos or delete them entirely. Her deft depiction of growing up aside, this is also a beautiful exploration of finding intellectual and artistic community. 

As a reader who doesn’t care much for plot, this novel is a dream. Its 420 pages range from Harvard to Paris to Hungary following Selin, a Turkish-American linguistics student, in her first year at college. She’s super clever but her limited engagement with the subtleties that turn the social world results in many moments of deadpan laugh-aloud reflection. It’s 1995, email is brand new, and it’s the main medium by which she and fellow student Ivan conduct their relationship—but is it a relationship or is it waiting to develop into one? Is he hiding behind email or romancing her… show more.