Beloved 
The Idiot
£9.99
Selin, a tall, highly strung Turkish-American from New Jersey turns up at Harvard and finds herself dangerously overwhelmed by the challenges and possibilities of adulthood. She studies linguistics and literature, teaches ESL and spends a lot of time thinking about what language – and languages – can and cannot do. Along the way she befriends Svetlana, a cosmopolitan Serb, and obsesses over Ivan, a mathematician from Hungary. The two conduct a hilarious relationship that culminates with Selin spending the summer teaching English in a Hungarian village and enduring a series of surprising excursions. Throughout her journeys, Selin ponders profound questions about how culture and language shape who we are, how difficult it is to be a failed writer, and how baffling love is.
In stock
Discover TikTok’s new favourite book.
‘I loved it and could have read a thousand more pages of it’ Emma Cline, author of The Girls
Selin, a tall, highly strung Turkish-American from New Jersey turns up at Harvard with no idea what to expect. What she doesn’t expect is:
– How much time she will spend thinking about language and its limitations
– An opinionated cosmopolitan Serb named Svetlana, who will become her confidante
– A mathematician from Hungary called Ivan, whom she will obsess over when she is supposed to be studying
– Feeling dangerously overwhelmed by the challenges and possibilities of adulthood
But most of all, Selin does not expect to embark on a study of precisely how baffling love can be when you are trying to forge a self…
_______________-
PRAISE FOR THE IDIOT:
‘A moving, continent-hopping coming-of-age story’ Observer
‘Elif Batuman surely has one of the best senses of humour…refreshing and unique’ Sheila Heti
‘Full of zingy one-liners’ Financial Times
‘Hilarious, brilliant observations about writing, life and crushes’ Curtis Sittenfeld
‘Delightful and slyly funny’ Red
| Weight | 0.298 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 19.8 × 12.9 × 2.6 cm |
| Author | |
| Publisher | |
| Imprint | |
| Cover | Paperback |
| Pages | 422 |
| Language | English |
| Edition | 1st paperback ed |
| Dewey | 813.6 (edition:23) |
| Readership | General – Trade / Code: K |
