I was really expecting to be wowed by this novel, seeing as it’s reached great critical acclaim and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Perhaps my high expectations led me to be disappointed. The story itself is an ordinary one, following a Harvard freshman along the course of her first year in college as she adjusts to societies norms and expectations. The narration is witty and dry with great prose at times, but overall left me extremely underwhelmed. It seems the only truly unique aspect of Selin’s narration is her  (undiagnosed) neurodivergent traits and her completely and utter cluelessness to how to exist as a young adult. I appreciate her unique insights, but wouldn’t categorize the novel as having an “absurdist” take on life, as other reviewers have noted. It seemed too bland and the insights too ordinary to be truly “absurdist,” in my opinion. 

Additionally, the central “romantic” plot (if you could even call it that) is endlessly frustrating. Selin and Ivan’s main communication is via email, with Ivan even ignoring her to her face for much of the book. Although I can relate to the feeling of  online interactions carrying different significance than those in real life, it seemed almost forced between the two. Frustrated by their lack of communication (meaningful, in person communication that is) and similarly frustrated by their dense, difficult emails, I was left greatly dissatisfied. Perhaps if I had put more effort into Googling the niche references they make the classical literature and other Harvard-eque topics, I would understand their emails better and have more affinity for the characters. Unfortunately, I mainly wanted to hurl my book at the wall and yell “Just kiss already!!” when reading them. 

The Idiot is a Sally Rooney book but more tedious, pretentious, and completely sexless. While Rooney crafts complicated characters and truly sexy interactions, Bautuman merely draws pathetic college students who are presumably all virgins. All that to say - I have no idea why people liked this novel so much. Over 400 pages and not even so much as a kiss between main characters is egregious. 

I will give Bautuman points for nailing unrequited love and longing. I think this especially pays off during the final third of the book when Selin is in Hungary. However, such longing without any payoff or real resolution left me unsatisfied, and the ending came abruptly. I’m the days following my completion of the novel, I found myself thinking I still had more to read, as it ended in such an anticlimactic way. Perhaps this novel has broader appeal to a different type of person, but for me, it was disappointing.