Elif Batuman, "The Idiot"

http://www.politics-prose.com/book/97... Batuman has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2010. Her work was selected for two volumes of The Best American Essays series and her first book, The Possessed, was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Now Batuman turns her spirited blend of travel writing, literary scholarship, and autobiography to a rich coming-of-age novel. Set in 1995, the narrative starts with Selin’s first day at Harvard. The daughter of Turkish immigrants, Selin grew up in New Jersey and is eager to study languages. Along with her academic work she cultivates several new friendships and falls in love with a Hungarian mathematician, which leads her to spend the summer teaching English in Hungary. Descriptive and insightful, Batuman’s fiction nimbly evokes Selin’s head-spinning combination of exhilaration and uncertainty as she discovers both the world and herself. Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at http://www.politics-prose.com/ Produced by Tom Warren