- Published: 3 June 1992
- ISBN: 9780140445770
- Imprint: Penguin Classics
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 640
- RRP: $27.99
Either/Or
A Fragment of Life
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- Published: 3 June 1992
- ISBN: 9780140445770
- Imprint: Penguin Classics
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 640
- RRP: $27.99
[A] charming, smart and completely idiosyncratic take on art, life and the gap between.
Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail, *Books to Look Out For 2022*
In 2018, Elif Batuman's witty campus novel, The Idiot, was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. . . . Now, Batuman returns with a sequel, Either/Or, that picks up during Selin's just-as-messy sophomore year. Expect a master course in snappy social observation.
TIME, 'The 21 Most Anticipated Books of 2022'
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)
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)
Effervescent . . . Observant, defiant, and newly on antidepressants, Selin approaches the mystery of human relations with a beginner's naivete and sharp intelligence . . . Batuman's light touch and humor are brought to bear on serious questions . . . As accomplished as The Idiot was, this improves upon it, and Batuman's already sharp chops as a novelist come across as even more refined in these pages. Readers will be enraptured.
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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"
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"
[A] much-anticipated sequel. Either/Or takes places in 1996 and follows Selin throughout her sophomore year as she attempts to make sense of everything that happened the summer before.
Nylon, "24 Books We’re Looking Forward to in 2022"
Batuman's latest picks up where her deeply enjoyable 2017 novel The Idiot left off, with Selin now a sophomore at Harvard, trying to untangle all that has happened, and all that could. Besides, Kierkegaard/Elliott Smith vibes will always bring me to the table.
LitHub, "Most Anticipated Books of 2022"
A brilliant meditation on womanhood and identity. By turns hilarious and illuminating.
Irenosen Okojie
Witty, funny and revelatory.
Lottie Woodrow, Handbook
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
A richly suggestive and amusing book.
Jonathan Derbyshire, Financial Times
Such an enchanting writer.
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
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
Wonderfully idiosyncratic... Charming
Alex Clark, Guardian
Either/Or is an astute and very amusing read, packed with pin-sharp observations delivered in a deadpan style.
i
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
Delightful... Batuman has a formidable deadpan wit... Selin is not only an astute observer but displays a touching capacity for awe.
Spectator
A charming, mordantly funny follow-up to her first novel... triumphal.
Daily Mail
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
Compelling, with witty, hilarious observations on life.
Eastern Daily Press
Stupendous . . . hilarious... Batuman is a genius, rendering human folly at its most colorful and borderline surreal
Lauren Mechling, Vogue
[A] charming and witty new story... We follow Selin...as she navigates the next chapter of her life with hilarious results.
Platinum, *Summer Reads of 2022*
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*
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
Superb... Either/Or is a smart and highly amusing book, the third by American Turkish author Batuman, firmly establishing her as great new contemporary literary talent.
T-Vine
Surely to be a classic of the genre... [An] impressive feat of being both searingly smart and funny
Evening Standard, *Summer Reads of 2022*
Batuman has taken what made The Idiot so brilliant, distilled it, and created an equally brilliant new work. Either/Or is unbridled joy.
Big Issue
Funny... Unforgettable... Batuman is particularly good on sex and sexual politics... The star feature is the narration... garrulous, rambunctious... full of baroque riffs and digressions.
Claire Lowdown, Spectator
A fresh voice is a rare thing, and Elif Batuman is one such.
Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*
Either/Or is extremely funny and delightfully ludic, as it probes the very act of reading from the point of view of confused university student Selin.
Anakana Schofield, Irish Times, Books of the Year 2022
I was desperately looking forward to Elif Batuman's Either/Or, and it more than lived up to it.
Samir Chadha, White Review, *Books of the Year*
Re-encountering Selin...felt like being reunited with an old friend.
Helen Charman, White Review, *Books of the Year*
Hilarious.
Alice Hattrick, White Review, *Books of the Year*
I greatly enjoyed the comic zing of Elif Batuman's delightful Either/Or
Megan Hunter, White Review, *Books of the Year*
Just as funny and self-aware and clever as The Idiot.
Jessica Zhan Mei Yu, White Review, *Books of the Year*
Witty, intelligent and funny... [Selin's] inner monologue is addictive enough to read a thousand more pages of, and I can only cross my fingers that this isn't the last instalment of the series.
Crack
Funny, wry and insightful
The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*
Laugh out loud…hilarious and thoughtful
Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*
