Elif Batuman Press Reviews
'Our funniest overthinker - and the queen of the campus novel... Selin is a droll and disarming narrator, and takes her place as one of the finest hapless scholars in the literary canon.' - Johanna Thomas-Corr, Sunday Times
'Batuman has a gift for making the universe seem, somehow, like the benevolent and witty literary seminar you wish it were . . . This novel wins you over in a million micro-observations.' - Dwight Garner, The New York Times
'A richly suggestive and amusing book.' - Jonathan Derbyshire, Financial Times
'A charming, mordantly funny follow-up to her first novel... triumphal.' - Daily Mail
'Such an enchanting writer.' - Johanna Thomas-Corr, Sunday Times
'Either/Or is both an entertaining campus novel and an engaging disquisition on the very nature and purpose of novels.' - Financial Times,Summer Reads of 2022*
'[A] charming, smart and completely idiosyncratic take on art, life and the gap between.' - Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail,Books to Look Out For 2022*
'The central pleasure of reading Elif Batuman's ferociously intelligent fiction...[is] the thrill of encountering things you already half-knew, rendered in language with lyrical precision... hopefully, there will be a third installment of the adventures of Elif Batuman's brilliantly modern picaro.' - Times Literary Supplement
'Delightful... Batuman has a formidable deadpan wit... Selin is not only an astute observer but displays a touching capacity for awe.' - Spectator
'Wonderfully idiosyncratic... Charming' - Alex Clark, Guardian
'Selin, the magnetic protagonist in Batuman's brilliant and comedic first novel, The Idiot (2017), returns . . . Selin reads and ponders the human condition, culminating in a breath-catching ending that will leave spellbound readers hoping for more from Batuman's bright and witty adventurer of conscience.' - Booklist (starred review)
'Either/Or is an astute and very amusing read, packed with pin-sharp observations delivered in a deadpan style.' - i
'One of the most convincing fictional descriptions of overwhelming despair I have read... Batuman... [has] extraordinary control of the narrative voice.' - London Review of Books
'A brilliant meditation on womanhood and identity. By turns hilarious and illuminating. -- Irenosen Okojie What elevates this far above the typical campus novel is Ms. Batuman's wry perspective . . . Selin's observations are frequently hilarious, sometimes touching and always original . . . There's both a sweet innocence and a sophisticated meta aspect to all this, a level on which Either/Or is about how Selin (and her creator) came to create the very book we're reading . . . [A] charming, hyper-literary novel . . . To be continued, we hope.' - Wall Street Journal
'Batuman, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New Yorker writer, brings delicious detail and light irony to her heroine's quest.' - Oprah Daily, The 50 Most Anticipated Books of 2022
'Either/Or is driven by intellectual questions: it's a novel of ideas narrated by a protagonist who, even in her misery, is delightful company.' - Hannah Rosefield, Literary Review
'Elif Batuman's debut novel, The Idiot, is one of the best works of fiction published in the 21st century. Her new novel, Either/Or, picks up where The Idiot left off. . . . Batuman has an extremely keen sense for what makes characters engaging and renders it all in supernaturally observant and funny prose.' - AV Club, The 15 most-anticipated books of 2022
'Witty, funny and revelatory.' - Lottie Woodrow, Handbook
'Selin is a disarming narrator, tossing off insights that are revelatory, moving, and laugh-out-loud funny - sometimes all at once - and it's exciting to watch her become the author of her own story. Another delightfully cerebral and bighearted novel from a distinctive voice in contemporary fiction.' - Kirkus (starred review)
