false 186837 0142004952 9780142004951 557 99 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172536595m/186837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/186837.How_I_Became_Stupid 31766 Martin Page 666 115 4 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 20 09:21:49 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 20 10:15:00 -0800 2008
That said, don't believe the jacket reviews that call this nihilistic. If you have the awareness to spot the dozens of literary and cultural references that the book relies on to prove the academic leanings of Antoine and his friends, you may find it difficult to equate becoming a successful stockbroker with the very idea of nihilism in this day and age. His personal journey to find this ideal of the happy, average life is, nonetheless, humorous and thought-provoking without becoming well, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

It's light and lovely if you like your fiction a little quirky without pandering to the norms of the best-seller list.

And it gets many bonus points for its use of the Gudmundsdottir in Paris as a recurring setting. The only place where such academically intelligent characters could be simultaneously at home and completely unaware. Priceless.]]>