The Idiot (by Elif Batuman)

I hate to say this because I loved The Possessed, but I almost didn't finish this. The only reason I powered through to the end was because it's in the Tournament of Books, and I always enjoy the discussion more when I have read the book.

I started out really into this. Batuman is a wonderful writer, and this book is full of amazingly observed, funny-sad moments.  However: nothing fucking happens.  I feel like if it had been 300 pages of nothing happening, I would have loved it. But stretched out to 425 pages, it got so tedious. Our main character goes here. She sees this thing. This other thing. More things. This person. This other person. She thinks about the boy she likes. She sees a thing. She eats some food. She sees another thing. She goes to another place. She eats some food...  I just didn't have the stamina for it.

It's clear why people love this. It has nuggets of truth and is super well written, with Batuman's trademark erudition and insight into culture and language. So I feel like a bit of a failure for having found it boring. But Pie Not Included is a place for brutal honesty and thus, here it is: reader, I was bored af.