A review by marymerrick
Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I am not sure why the protagonist was such a miserable person. I guess being in a new place gave him the idea that he could be anybody and say anything.  Which is one thing, but being a truly mean, despicable person is another. Not much action or storyline. Unclear character development. Since Adam’s poetry was completely fraudulent, for me, no valid point could be made about anything. Some of the writing was quite good, but much of the poetic writing was incomprehensible. I am not fond of Lerner and find his writing pretentious and pointless. That said, I was able to finish it, and was propelled forward by some of the small action and decent writing.