Also, there’s sex.īatuman remembers being in college and reading Amis’s take on oral sex in The Rachel Papers, how he described it as being a “confrontation with a glistening pouch, redolent of oysters.” When she thought about it again, she says, “more than 20 years had passed, and I was like, Could it really have said that?” A quick Google confirmed that it did, and Selin’s contemplation of that part of The Rachel Papers is a pivotal part of the novel, a glimmering reminder of the ways in which even the most self-consciously progressive young women often see the world through the lenses of heterosexual men-whose vision is clearly impaired if they’re spotting “glistening oysters” in the dark. The novel features plenty of Selin’s biting humor, frustrations with evolving (and devolving) friendships, free-flowing thoughts on musicians from Fiona Apple to Lauryn Hill, and a stint writing for a travel guide. While The Idiot took place during Selin’s freshman year and took Dostoevsky for its titular inspiration, Either/Or occurs during her sophomore year, and borrows its title from Kierkegaard’s seminal text debating the merits of an aesthetic versus an ethical life.
