Elif Batuman - Either/Or

Either/Or works as entertainment but, like The Idiot, it has a lot going on beyond its loose, episodic 'plot' of Selin's further misapprehensions and misadventures. Just what that is, is a bit elusive, but has something to do with how we make sense of our lives and our selves - how we should be - through, not stories exactly (that old cliche), nor literature narrowly, but rather out of the many intersecting forces, narrative and otherwise, that shape us whether we like it or not. Piquant, funny, and at times touching. I'll read as many books about Selin as Batuman wants to write.