PositiveThe Harvard ReviewThe Idiot was a novelty when it came out, a playful exercise in autofiction that captured a distinct moment in time. But does it really have the legs to work again?...After initial hesitation, I admit that the answer is a definite yes. Batuman has produced another page-turning delight, a morsel of Ivy League realism ... Perhaps Batuman’s genius lies in her eagerness to endow the small dramas of campus life with the same importance as the big existential questions. In the face of the national threat to abortion rights, especially, it is a comfort to find fiction that so frankly represents the reality of having sex for women. Selin is bracingly honest about the physical experience of it...Such candor only makes Selin more endearing.
