Is literature a good guide to life? If not, is anything a good guide? In our Book of the Week, EITHER / OR by Elif Batuman, the quasi-protagonist, Selin, is in her second year at university, struggling to comprehend her relationships and life in general in terms of the Great Novels on her syllabus, and following some very dubious advice from friends and others. Can only an exciting and vivid life be transformed into literature, and, if so, is the necessary price of this craziness and loneliness? Batuman's novel grapples with deep issues but never stops being a large amount of fun.
