{"id":29653,"date":"2022-04-18T11:23:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T15:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/?p=29653"},"modified":"2022-04-18T11:23:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T15:23:20","slug":"elif-batuman-the-repugnant-conclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/2022\/04\/18\/elif-batuman-the-repugnant-conclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Elif Batuman: “The Repugnant Conclusion”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“The Repugnant Conclusion”<\/strong><\/span>
\nby Elif Batuman<\/span>
\nfrom the April 25 & May 2, 2022 issue of\u00a0The New Yorker<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#003366″ hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” text_color=””]I[\/fusion_dropcap] think Elif Batuman’s work is great, and I’m excited for her forthcoming novel,\u00a0Either\/Or<\/em>, which is a sequel to her debut novel The Idiot<\/em>\u00a0(a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize a few years ago)\u00a0and\u00a0comes out from Penguin Press on May 22. “The Repugnant Conclusion” is an excerpt or, as it is called in her interview with Deborah Treisman, an adaptation from\u00a0Either\/Or<\/em>. So if you’re excited to reunite with Selin, here’s a chance to do so before the new book comes out in May. This seems to pick up pretty much just a few months after we left off:<\/p>\n

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Svetlana got back to Harvard the day after me, though it felt like years. I had already slept the night in my new room, eaten breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria, and made numerous trips to the storage facility,\u00a0having the same conversation over and over with people whose existence I had forgotten. \u201cHow was your summer?\u201d \u201cHow was your summer?\u201d \u201cHow was Hungary?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, how was Hungary? Did anything happen?\u201d Lakshmi asked, with a conspiratorial sparkle. Lakshmi was one of the people I remembered: last year, when we were freshmen, we had exchanged condences; we had both been in love with older guys. There had been certain similarities between our situations, between Ivan and Noor. And, notwithstanding my feeling that a lot of things had happened, I answered the question truthfully, in the sense that I knew Lakshmi intended it. Nothing had happened. Meaning, nothing had happened with Ivan. Meaning, we hadn\u2019t had sex.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Please let me know if you’ve read\u00a0The Idiot<\/em>, if you’re excited about\u00a0Either\/Or<\/em>, and, regardless, what your thoughts on “The Repugnant Conclusion” are.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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